MOSCOW (AP) — The Kremlin has dismissed a U.S. indictment that charged 13 Russians with interfering in the 2016 U.S. presidential election as lacking evidence.
The indictment handed Friday by a federal grand jury alleges that a wealthy entrepreneur with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin funneled money to a so-called “troll farm,” which sent operatives to the United States, created fictitious social media accounts and used them to spread tendentious messages. The aim was either to influence voters or to undermine their faith in the U.S. political system.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday that while the indictment focuses on “Russian nationals” it gives “no indication that the Russian government was involved in this in any way.” Peskov insisted that Moscow did not meddle in the U.S. election.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt: “December 7, 1941-a date which will live in infamy. And see, no one has said I collaborated with the Japanese! Fake news!!”
President George W. Bush: “I can hear you! The rest of the world hears you! And the people – and the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon. And I hope you heard that I have not been charged with collaborating with the terrorists!”
Did anyone seriously expect any other response?
Thought not.
The attack was huge. We must respond. And we must find out if our current President conspired with our enemies.
The real issue here is not collusion, which isn’t a federal crime, but rather if there was a conspiracy to commit a crime and/or any attempt to obstruct its detection and prosecution, which are. That is the focus of Mueller in regard to Trump and his campaign. He has established that crimes against this country were committed. The question before us: Was/is Trump and his campaign involved in those crimes and their attempted cover-up? Conspiracy law is a powerful tool for prosecutors. An American can be prosecuted and convicted as a conspirator without actually knowing that the person who encouraged him or her to commit a crime was Russian; hence no comfort for Trump in the indictment limited to the troll farm. Mueller tells us real Americans were involved; without being aware, if true, that they were working with Russians will not spare them prosecution and conviction if guilty of intending to subvert our democratic process.
We now know about the troll farm. As many others, including myself, have noted, Mueller has not yet commented on the DNC/Podesta hacking, the Trump Tower and other direct meetings, Cambridge Analytica, or any attempts to directly interfere with voting in targeted states. There are other shoes that may drop.
I think the term collusion is a smokescreen being thrown up to cloud understanding by Trump and his team. Let’s begin using conspiracy and obstruction as the terms of choice when describing what Mueller is all about. And protect Mueller until he completes his inquiry so we can fully understand why we have Trump in the Oval Orifice and how long we will have to put up with his self-indulgent and short-sighted nastiness.
They’re right, of course, but “you can’t prove it” is a pretty fucking weak non-denial.
He’s absolutely correct; an indictment doesn’t “prove” anything, other than that the prosecutor had sufficient evidence to convince a grand jury to vote a bill. Now, the trial will “prove” lots of things. This is just more weak sauce, expected denials and obfuscation. Denial is cheap; proving oneself not guilty in court is a whole 'nother matter. (Not that I expect any of these defendants to appear in a U.S. court, but surely there will be some action, with or without their appearance.) Keep tweeting, Mr. president*; if you clap hard enough…