Breaking per Andrea Mitchell: 12 additional Russians indicted for hacking the DNC including Russian military officers.
Before you start to feel disappointed it wasn't an insider, appreciate this bit:
Mueller just entirely hamstrung Trump before his Putin meeting.
Before you start to feel disappointed it wasn't an insider, appreciate this bit:
Mueller just entirely hamstrung Trump before his Putin meeting.
This is actually profoundly terrific...
1) Implicates Putin directly
2) Puts Trump in an impossible position walking into a face-to-face where he now stands to look egregiously weak and treasonous if he is friendly
3) Directly implicates Wikileaks and Julian Assange
1) Implicates Putin directly
2) Puts Trump in an impossible position walking into a face-to-face where he now stands to look egregiously weak and treasonous if he is friendly
3) Directly implicates Wikileaks and Julian Assange
4) Brings criminal charges closer to all parties involved in the solicitation, receipt and dissemination of those hacked docs... Think Roger Stone, Don, Jr., people at Cambridge Analytica, et al.
5) Once again entirely torches Repubs efforts to undercut Mueller and his team
5) Once again entirely torches Repubs efforts to undercut Mueller and his team
6) Shines a very bright light on the farce of the congressional hearings with Strzok yesterday.
Strzok inevitably knew of the investigation into these charges and kept it secret...
7) Exposes the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of laundering money for Russia
Strzok inevitably knew of the investigation into these charges and kept it secret...
7) Exposes the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of laundering money for Russia
...and a big, big, big one that will bite Trump dead square on the a** as he heads to meet Vladi Putin:
8) Includes direct criminal charges for Russian state-sponsored hacking into voter registration systems and theft of voter data
8) Includes direct criminal charges for Russian state-sponsored hacking into voter registration systems and theft of voter data
Mueller and Co. just rung up Putin and his operatives on the eve of a face-to-face with Trump.
Trump is so effed here. He'll look awful if his response is weak... and he can't aggressively criticize Putin because it would be a tacit admission his election was illegitimate.
Trump is so effed here. He'll look awful if his response is weak... and he can't aggressively criticize Putin because it would be a tacit admission his election was illegitimate.
It's impossible to overstate just how thoroughly Mueller just screwed Babyfingers here.
Trump was poised to embrace Putin with warm hugs and then return claiming he alone had built a bridge with a useful ally.
Trump was poised to embrace Putin with warm hugs and then return claiming he alone had built a bridge with a useful ally.
Now, Trump is heading all the way to the prom poised to look terrible if he dances with his date.
Bwahahaha.
This essentially sets up the same dynamic I laid out in my thread about NATO the other day.
Competing narcissistic impulses.
Trump will short circuit.
Bwahahaha.
This essentially sets up the same dynamic I laid out in my thread about NATO the other day.
Competing narcissistic impulses.
Trump will short circuit.
As a matter of national interest beyond politics, these indictments may have done more to protect American alliances and interests than any summit ever could have...
...we were days away from a treason-weasel getting played by a puppet-master.
Now the treason-weasel is trapped.
...we were days away from a treason-weasel getting played by a puppet-master.
Now the treason-weasel is trapped.
One note and it's an important one:
I pecked this out in real time while simultaneously listening to both the coverage and the press conference, so all of the above should be taken as a raw real-time take and not the carefully fact-checked work of a journalist.
I pecked this out in real time while simultaneously listening to both the coverage and the press conference, so all of the above should be taken as a raw real-time take and not the carefully fact-checked work of a journalist.
