Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein briefed President Trump earlier this week on the new indictment of 12 Russian nationals announced on Friday.
“I briefed President Trump about these allegations earlier this week. The President is fully aware of the department’s actions today,” Rosenstein said in a press conference announcing the new indictment.
The indictment from a grand jury, part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe, accused 12 members of the Russian intelligence agency of hacking the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Hillary Clinton campaign during the 2016 election.
After noting that Trump was aware of the indictment, Rosenstein emphasized that the government should not focus on the victims of the attack.
“In my remarks I have not identified the victims. We confront foreign interference in American elections. It’s important for us to avoid thinking politically, as Republicans or Democrats, and instead to think patriotically as Americans. Our response must not depend on which side was victimized. The internet allows foreign adversaries to attack America in new and unexpected ways,” Rosenstein said.
Clearly this was in the works for a long while. But since Trump was told about this (per Rosenstein) I wonder about the timing. Him telling Trump certainly undercuts the narrative that this is Rosenstein (or the “deep state”) doing this to throw a spinnaker into the works before his Putin meeting.
I found this from Rosenstein’s remarks to be the most interesting:
“Free and fair elections are hard-fought and contentious. There will always be adversaries who work to exacerbate domestic differences and try to confuse, divide, and conquer us. So long as we are united in our commitment to the values enshrined in the Constitution, they will not succeed.”
Rosenstein could just as well have been talking about Trump as Putin.
My guess is that this is just a taste, with Mueller spooling out these endictments from time to tine to keep up the pressure and push back against the “witch-hunt” narrative. Rosenstein is clearly on board with the push back.
Donnie reportedly took the news well…
This is somehow Peter Strzok’s fault… Gowdy can FEEL it…
And Rep. Gosar knows, based on the body language that he’s so good at reading.
If Trump doesn’t push Putin on this issue during Monday’s meeting we can all safely assume the Pee-Pee Tapes are real.
We might get lucky and Trump will return to Moscow with Vlad for an extended vacation.