Defensive WH Reaction To Russian Indictments Lacks Any Condemnation

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In an unusual response to the Russian indictments Friday, the White House issued a statement full of bullet points emphasizing that no Americans were charged. The statement conspicuously lacked any condemnation of Russia’s election meddling or a pledge to step up election protections.

The statement reads:

“As Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said today:

o “There is no allegation in this indictment that Americans knew that they were corresponding with Russians.
o There is no allegation in this indictment that any American citizen committed a crime.
o There is no allegation that the conspiracy changed the vote count or affected any election result.”

Today’s charges include no allegations of knowing involvement by anyone on the campaign and no allegations that the alleged hacking affected the election result. This is consistent with what we have been saying all along.”

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced Friday that 12 Russians have been indicted for hacking into the computers of those involved with the Hillary Clinton campaign and DNC, among others, to steal and disseminate damaging information during the campaign.

President Donald Trump, who has known about the pending indictments all week, has made no move to cancel his upcoming summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in light of the charges.

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Notable Replies

  1. Ah, “No harm, no foul” diplomacy.

  2. They’re cornered.

    They’re cooked.

    They’re toast.

    They’re unindicted co-conspirators and they know it.

    Their days are numbered.

    At this point, their days might only be hours.

    And Bastille Day is tomorrow!

  3. Avatar for clare clare says:

    "Today’s charges include no allegations of knowing involvement by anyone on the campaign …"

    Tomorrow’s charges are coming, asshats.

  4. For someone who screams, “NO COLLUSION!” he sure acts guilty.

  5. “It’s not positively asserted, therefore it is negatively concluded” is toddler logic from the Toddler in Chief.

    Meanwhile, I am steeling myself for a flurry of nine thousand emergency podcasts this afternoon/evening.

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