What a juxtaposition today as Donald Trump was meeting the Queen of England at the exact same time that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein was announcing new indictments related to the 2016 election. 12 senior Russian intelligence officials were indicted as part of the Mueller investigation. You can read the full indictment here.

During Rosenstein’s press conference to announce the indictments, he said “the unit’s engaged in active cyber operations to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. There was one unit that engaged in active cyber operations by stealing information and a different unit that was responsible for disseminating the stolen information.” Rosenstein also made two statements that leave no question as to why this mass hacking was carried out making it clear this stolen information was used to influence the election saying:

“they discussed the timing of the release in an attempt to enhance the impact on the election.” 

“…the goal of the conspirators was to have an impact on the elections. What impact they may have had or what their motivation may have been independently of what’s required to prove this offense is a matter of speculation.”

Rosenstein did point out that “there’s no allegation in this indictment that any American citizen committed a crime. There’s no allegation that the conspiracy changed the vote count or affected any election result.” Not surprisingly Trump’s team (and supporters), including attorney Rudy Giuliani are declaring victory based on that statement. The problem is Rudy Giuliani didn’t mention the key word Rosenstein used. He said no Americans were implicated in “this” indictment. More importantly, Rosenstein said, “the special counsel’s investigation is ongoing.”

While Giuliani may say “The Russians are nailed,” Trump is just days away from meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Don’t expect the meeting to be canceled though it looks like Trump knew about these indictments while heaping praise on Putin this week. Rosenstein said, “The timing… is a function of the collection of the facts, the evidence, and the law and a determination that it was sufficient to present the indictment at this time… I did brief the President. With regard to the nature of the investigation, I only comment on the evidence. The evidence is reflected in our indictments and in our charges, represents a determination by prosecutors and agents without regard to politics that we believe the evidence is sufficient to justify the charges. “

There is now wide speculation as to what will be the next shoe to drop.

Watch Rosenstein’s full press conference above.