Today’s 13 indictments demonstrate that the Special Counsel’s broad investigation is about defending America from foreign interference and bringing to justice those who perpetrated the attack, both in Russia and here in the United States.
one indicted Russian-Bystrov, 1 of the indicted Russians: according to Russian media reports, prior to leading “troll farms,” Bystrov was chief of the St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs rbc.ru/magazine/2017/…
1.We know the Russians directly contacted multiple high-ranking Trump campaign officials explicitly to inform them of its activities to help elect Trump and they were eager to receive it. cnn.com/2017/07/11/pol…
When Goldstone first emailed @DonaldJTrumpJr on June 9 meeting, he said “this is obviously very high level and sensitive information but is part of Russia and its government’s support for Mr. Trump.” h ttp://www.cnn.com/2017/07/11/politics/trump-jr-russia-lawyer-emails/index.html
George Papadopoulos was approached by a Russian cut-out in April 2016 informing him that the Russians possessed a cache of Hillary Clinton emails.
There were dozens of other meetings and contacts between Russians and high-ranking members of the Trump team that clearly show that senior Trump officials were far eager to receive the assistance of the Russians. washingtonpost.com/news/fact-chec…
2.Trump has covered up this concerted information warfare targeting the United States for more than a year, calling it a hoax at least a dozen times.
Trump was briefed in January 2017, before he took office, on a “vast cyberattack” directed by Putin and “aimed at denying Hillary Clinton the presidency.” He has had this knowledge for over a year.h ttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/us/politics/donald-trump-wall-hack-russia.html
3.Vice President Pence’s mischaracterization of the IC report earlier this week is rebutted by the details outlined in the indictment. washingtonpost.com/news/fact-chec…
Indictment: “conspiracy had as its object impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful governmental functions of the United States by dishonest means in order to enable the Defendants to interfere with U.S. political and electoral processes, including the 2016 U.S. pres elex”
4.The indictment provides information that Russian operatives engaged in highly sophisticated voter suppression efforts – efforts that are parallel to the Trump campaign strategy.
These efforts mirror the unusual voter suppression tactics of the Trump campaign. Is it possible that these two groups simultaneously and independent reached the same novel strategy? bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
The indictments describe a large and sophisticated digital campaign that had a huge online following that used similar techniques as Americans campaigns. Either the Russian digital campaign influence voters’ decisions or all US campaigns’ digital operations are worthless.
Three questions:
1 “Certain Defendants traveled to the United States under false pretenses for the purpose of collecting intelligence to inform Defendant’s operations.” Who were they collecting this intelligence from in the United States?
1 “Certain Defendants traveled to the United States under false pretenses for the purpose of collecting intelligence to inform Defendant’s operations.” Who were they collecting this intelligence from in the United States?
2 Richard Pinedo was also indicted on charges of fraud and illicit wire transfers. Does he know who was at the receiving end of those transfers?
3 Given the intensity, scope, and ongoing nature of the Russian attack on our democracy, how can the president justify not answering every question Special Counsel Mueller has to help him put a stop to it?
Finally, for a refresher on the issues surrounding Russian ad buys, it’s worth revisiting Diana’s Guardian op-ed from last fall: Facebook must 'follow the money' to uncover extent of Russian meddling.
