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.”
DOJ dep AG Rod Rosenstein hit one point over and over in his new conference:
Americans of both political parties should be equally disturbed by a Russian intelligence attack and attempts to interfere in a US election. https://t.co/bFBoumiiRB— Carol Leonnig (@CarolLeonnig) July 13, 2018
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.”
The indictments Rod Rosenstein announced are good news for all Americans. The Russians are nailed. No Americans are involved. Time for Mueller to end this pursuit of the President and say President Trump is completely innocent.
— Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) July 13, 2018
While Giuliani may say “The Russians are nailed,” Trump is just days away from meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Cancel the Putin meeting. Now. https://t.co/SqdhVDafH7
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) July 13, 2018
In light of the charges against 12 GRU officers announced by Rod Rosenstein, @realDonaldTrump should cancel his meeting with Putin, who ordered the attack on the US. @POTUS shouldn't meet Putin until he accepts responsibility. And Trump should definitely not meet him alone. https://t.co/bP71DdGOHB
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) July 13, 2018
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. “
Rosenstein said he briefed Trump days ago on the indictments of Russian military intel officers hacking into the DNC and others. Since then, Trump has said flattering things about Putin, knowing the indictments were pending and the evidence the US had about Russian meddling.
— Shane Harris (@shaneharris) July 13, 2018
Trump: "I call it the rigged witch hunt. I think that really hurts our country, and it really hurts our relationship with Russia."
Rosenstein, 3 hours later: "The indictment charges 12 Russian military officers… for conspiring to interfere with the 2016 presidential election."
— Ryan Struyk (@ryanstruyk) July 13, 2018
There is now wide speculation as to what will be the next shoe to drop.
30/ The indictment says the second major Russian attack on Clinton occurred less than a week after Papadopoulos told Trump he was acting as a Russian intermediary and—per accounts of those at the meeting—Trump was engaged and interested. It appears that after the second attack…
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) July 13, 2018
32/ What I'm saying is that the timeline laid out in the indictments strongly suggests at least some of the unindicted co-conspirators are American.
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) July 13, 2018
Watch Rosenstein’s full press conference above.