The ball keeps on rolling in the Mueller probe: Today, the grand jury empaneled by Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russian nationals for allegedly meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
So much for President Donald Trump’s assertions that Russia didn’t interfere in the election, right?
Today’s news proves that Mueller’s investigation is completely justified and that it must continue unimpeded, and just in time, as Trump has continued to deny Russia interfered and seems to be doing everything he can get away with to stop Mueller.
Vice President Mike Pence has also denied Russians had any affect on the outcome of the election.
Here it is spelled out clearly by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein:
“The defendants allegedly conducted what they called information warfare against the United States, with the stated goal of spreading distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general.”
CNN Chief National Security Correspondent, Jim Sciutto noted the implications for the Russia investigation:
“1- Legal standard is much higher than standard for intel assessment.
2- These Russians worked for Internet Research Agency, funded by a close Putin ally.
3- Most of all, this blows up POTUS/right-wing doubts that Russia interfered in his election”
Points on Mueller indictments:
1- Legal standard is much higher than standard for intel assessment.
2- These Russians worked for Internet Research Agency, funded by a close Putin ally.
3- Most of all, this blows up POTUS/right-wing doubts that Russia interfered in his election— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) February 16, 2018
While there were no Americans involved in this round of indictments, that doesn’t rule out the possibility of more indictments in the near future.
Attorney and Professor, Seth Abramson, who has closely followed the investigation, commented:
“We’re today seeing the beginning, admittedly just the very beginning, of the sort of criminal prosecutions (and criminal charges) that Trump, Trump Jr., Manafort, and others may one day be charged with Conspiracy or Aiding and Abetting for having assisted.”
We're today seeing the beginning, admittedly just the very beginning, of the sort of criminal prosecutions (and criminal charges) that Trump, Trump Jr., Manafort, and others may one day be charged with Conspiracy or Aiding and Abetting for having assisted. https://t.co/FA4rCKeXLU
— Seth Abramson (@SethAbramson) February 16, 2018
In addition to the 13 charges of “conspiracy to defraud the United States,” there were three defendants charged with “conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud.”
Five defendants were charged with “aggravated identity theft” according to a report from CNN.
The now notorious Internet Research Agency, otherwise known as the Russian troll farm, began meddling in American politics as far back as 2014, supporting Trump and creating negative news about Clinton in the middle of 2016.
The indictment notes that the defendants allegedly pretended to be citizens of America, creating fake identities and social media pages for the specific purpose of attracting Americans to those pages.
Although this series of indictments doesn’t show that any Americans were knowingly taking part in illegal activity, it does reveal that the Russian trolls were in communication with “unwitting” people connected to the Trump campaign. It remains to be seen if Russia will cooperate with the indictment from the grand jury.
Vladimir Putin has always denied that Russia interfered in the American elections.
Popular Twitter activist, Tea Pain, broke down the important implications of today’s multiple indictments:
Today's indictments were a brilliant first roll-out.
1) Confirms there was a crime
2) Serves as context for obstruction charges
3) Insulates Rosenstein and Mueller from bein' fired
4) Forces lawmakers to deal with 2018
5) Encourages fence-sittin' witnesses to testify— Tea Pain (@TeaPainUSA) February 16, 2018
For more, see the videos from Bloomberg Politics below:
Featured image: Screenshot via YouTube.
