We can expect a series of after-shocks and collateral revelations from Friday's indictment of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian organizations for meddling in the 2016 election. But let's first take in the epicenter: We now know without a doubt that Russians conducted a multimillion-dollar, highly sophisticated campaign to destabilize the American political system. Has there been a sharper or more serious attack on the United States since 9/11?
The effort spanned years; foreigners posed as Americans and stole identities; they manipulated social media platforms to sow discord.
A pernicious assault on U.S. free elections has been uncovered.
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Undoubtedly, the indictments are a vindication for Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe, and should put to rest the suggestion that he has been engaging in, as President Trump recently tweeted, a "witch hunt." Until Friday, the president had repeatedly insisted that Russia had not interfered with the election and even called that notion a "hoax." So much for that argument.
Mueller stepped into the breach that the administration and Congress created with over a year of dithering and insouciance at the notion of Russian interference. Their inaction and subject-changing have been shameful, and it's a huge lucky break for the nation that Mueller was able to soldier through a torrent of unwarranted criticism.
A victory lap is also in order for Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein, who signaled the importance of the indictments with a rare news conference on Friday afternoon. Trump has made Rosenstein an even bigger whipping boy than Mueller in some ways, and has openly threatened to discharge him. Friday's indictments should blunt if not silence those discreditable attacks.
But immediately and predictably, the president found a way to deflect the charges.
"Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014," he tweeted, "long before I announced that I would run for President. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong — no collusion!"
Source : latimes
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