All 12 defendants are members of the GRU, a Russian federation intelligence agency within the main intelligence directorate of the Russian military, who were acting in "their official capacities." DOJ says the hacking targeted Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, with the intention to "release that information on the internet under the names DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 and through another entity." Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said the indictment does not name any American citizen. "There is no allegation in this indictment that any American citizen committed a crime," he said at a news conference. "There is no allegation that the conspiracy altered the vote count or changed any election result." close dialog
The indictment was announced at almost exactly the moment that Trump rolled into the quadrangle of Windsor Castle to meet the awaiting Queen Elizabeth II in the symbolic highpoint of his visit to Britain. It also emerged two days before Trump is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin -- who has denied election meddling -- in Helsinki for a summit that includes a one-on-one meeting with only interpreters present. The unfolding drama on both sides of the Atlantic reflected how Trump's presidency has been overshadowed by the Mueller probe from its earliest moments and how the investigation frequently tramples the President's attempts to carve out favorable headlines. Prosecutors from Mueller's office and the Justice Department's National Security Division visited the courtroom of a federal magistrate judge in Washington at 11:30 a.m. ET to return the grand jury indictment, according to an itinerary posted outside the courtroom.
The indictment was announced at almost exactly the moment that Trump rolled into the quadrangle of Windsor Castle to meet the awaiting Queen Elizabeth II in the symbolic highpoint of his visit to Britain. It also emerged two days before Trump is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin
Yet, the only thing anyone here will want to talk is how it affects Trump, or not.
Matt
If Trump is a target of the Mueller investigation, How could Rosenstein brief him about these indictments days ago?
How many elections do you think we have had since the cold war where the Russians meddled?
If there's no connection with the Trump campaign (which is yet to be confirmed or denied by Mueller) it doesn't mean the investigation was a worthless witch hunt. It seems clear the Russians were meddling, and it's looking like that meddling was coming from some of the highest levels of their government. That's a serious matter worth investigating, IMO, regardless of whether Trump's campaign was complicit, or not.
Matt
According to BBC, Rosenstein said there was no evidence of any illegal actions by any American citizen nor were any votes changed as a result of the Russians alleged actions.
“There is no allegation in this indictment that any American citizen committed a crime,” Rosenstein said, adding that there is no evidence that the hacking helped President Donald Trump defeat Clinton.
Next indictments will be for Boris and Natasha....... Moose and Squirrel will be testifying shortly.....
Michael's Link
From the link.
“The Intelligence Community Inspector General (ICIG) found an “anomaly on Hillary Clinton’s emails going through their private server, and when they had done the forensic analysis, they found that her emails, every single one except four, over 30,000, were going to an address that was not on the distribution list,” Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas said during a hearing with FBI official Peter Strzok.
“It was going to an unauthorized source that was a foreign entity unrelated to Russia,” he added.“
Here, I'll make it easy for you.
Matt
Won’t even leave a mark. The more they go after him, the better he gets.
I'm not all surprised by the espionage. But I am surprised by your apathy about it.
Matt
Hahahahhaah.
Trump was told and HE ignored it. Or was complicit. Either way Obama and the intelligence agencies briefed him on it. That’s the fact.
Will trump do that? Of course not.
If trump is serious about being an alpha president he needs to demand that every Russian who's been indicted needs extradited immediately and testify under oath as they face charges.
Again, he won’t do that. Why?
yfp, great stuff from you as well, as always, love it
thanks to the op for such a well written post, you should consider writing for the ap or something, or maybe they could just copy your stuff
hillary had it won,12 russians took it and gave it away, damn them....it all makes scents now, impeach the orange gandhi
Just what did the Russians do other than to gather and print the truth. No lies, just the real facts that exposed Hillary's lies. If this did effect the vote turn out to swing the vote over to Trump, this country owes Russia a debt of thanks.
"The name is Bond....... Boris Bond....."
George Webb sued John Podesta in 2017, along with other elected and public officials including Justice Department personnel but today, exact language, accusations and content from Webb’s suit appeared in the Justice Department’s indictment. Beyond strange.
Mueller swiped Webb’s hacking allegations against Imran Awan and simply flipped them — almost word for word — and made the exact allegations against Russian operatives.
How did the exact wording and language from Webb’s civil lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia appear in Mueller’s big criminal Russian indictment?
Is the Special Counsel cutting corners now and simply stealing content from other lawsuits? Even a suit against DOJ personnel? Where is all the money going to then?
This is far from a coincidence, based on an analysis of the two court filings. Who on Mueller’s team plagiarized Webb’s legal filing and tried to mask it as “new” and “breaking” revelations? Seems like a rushed job for sure.
This is a legal sham, complete with Rod Rosenstein’s impromptu press conference on Friday announcing the indictments.
When was Mueller’s new indictments drafted, during Thursday’s House testimony of FBI Agent Peter Strzok? Why would you need to steal content for Russian indictments if your case was well researched and legitimate?
Some slick sleuthing from Twitter investigator @myhtopoeic pinpointed the plagiarism, a practice likewise considered taboo in legal circles — not only the literary arena.
Mueller’s “new” indictment seems to mirror the majority of Webb’s civil suit in theme, wording and allegations. Here is one glaring example""
slade's Link
2). Obama ordered Comey and FBI to launch a full scale investigation into Russian interference. Trump fired Comey and calls the investigation a witch hunt. So don’t say Obama did nothing.
3). America was attacked and this is NOT a partisan issue yet TreasonousTrump continues to politicize it since it causes more division and lets him get away with all the proPutin moves.
4). We all know Putin is trump’s boss. I guarantee that he will meet with putin alone and we will never know what was said. trump is getting his orders from Putin for the midterms. We all know this. Except trump’s base. (That’s you,by the way) Who believe everything he keeps repeating. All while wagging your heads and snorting to yourselves about how the libs are all upset. Damn right we’re upset. Our glorious nation was attacked and this president is doing NOTHING except cowtowing to a murderous dictator.
DOJ/Mueller release their indictments against 12 Russians outside the jurisdiction of the US.
Rosenstein announces no American was involved.
Mueller will probably never have to prove his case in court....
continued at link
2). Cyber war is war. That's why the US Army has a Cyber Command.
3). Trump declaring "the European Union is a foe." This is another reality. These have been the nations that fought alongside us for decades, that coordinated sanctions with us against Russia and that are our biggest trade partners. But unlike Russia, not funneling $ to Trump Organization for years. This is exactly what Putin wants. Fractured allies. Trump gave it to him in advance of their meeting.
bad karma's Link
1) America is under attack from Russia 2) I took an oath to defend the United States of America so Here’s what I’m doing to stop these attacks and keep you - and our Homeland - safe:
Why? _______________
OK Bob we get it and believe you. The Russians hacked into our systems. Now why continue to beat a dead horse for something that is water under the bridge that you have discovered multiple times, and, can't do one legal thing about? You need a new boat?
The Rock
Meanwhile, back in the real world . . . Obama did do something. He launched an investigation into Russian meddling. It was headed by James Comey. Remember him? You fired him to stop the investigation into Russia meddling because it would lead back to trump and the gop.
Things Obama did:
-Imposed Sanctions -Launched an Investigation -Prepared a Bipartisan Statement that McConnell refused to make public. -Expelled dozens of Russian Diplomats -Seized Property belonging to Russians.
Things Trump & GOP did:
-Stalled on Sanctions -Obstructed the Investigations -Suppressed the Statement -Placated Putin
Did I miss anything?
Yes!
Don’t forget he also passed some classified information onto the Russians in his private meeting in the Oval Office-can’t blame Obama for that. Can you?
And please don’t forget about the GOP going to Russia on the 4th of July- how very very patriotic!
At some point the man-baby is going to have to take some responsibility for his own administration. Wonder when that’ll be.
In fact, Obama rallied the world and kicked the Russians out of Crimea and was really tough at Benghazi. I know I missed a lot, like a commercial jet being shot down...
Habitat for Wildlife's Link
Obama in Dec 2016 admitted that the DNC hacking and news “manipulations were not particularly sophisticated. This was not some elaborate, complicated espionage scheme.” Yet here we are 14 months later still going nuts about Russia “meddling.”pic.twitter.com/ka0JV1HwjJ
— Yossi Gestetner (@YossiGestetner) February 14, 2018
When Trump was informed by the FBI about Russian meddling, the record shows he did nothing to stop it.
1). Obama instructed Homeland Security to protect voting-related systems from cyber intrusions.
Trump suggested forming a Cyber Security unit with Putin. this is like asking a bank robber to install the alarms at the bank.
2). Intelligence agency leaders informed leaders in Congress of Russian meddling. Obama wanted to issue a bipartisan statement specifically calling out Russia.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell questioned those conclusions and refused to join in publicly condemning Russia.
3). This is Obama confronting Vladimir Putin on the G20 Leaders Summit in Hangzhou on September 5, 2016. Obama personally confronted Russian President Vladimir Putin and told him to back off.
Trump said he believed Putin when he said ‘I didn’t do that’.
4). The Obama administration publicly identified Russia as being behind election-related hacks, issuing a joint statement from Homeland Security and the Director of National Intelligence.
Trump denied Russian meddling and called it a hoax.
5). Obama ordered 35 Russian diplomats and intelligence agents to leave the United States, closed two Russian compounds and imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and organizations.
Trump consistently weakened and delayed any sanctions on Russia.
The question is: Why is Trump so loud in blaming U.S. leaders for the attack carried out by Russia, while being silent with any criticism of Putin?
Can you answer why?
The above are indisputable. They are factual and cannot be changed because it happened. Find one of the above to false. You can’t.
Trump is selling out our nation. You cheer him on. Shame on you.
Trump is giving Putin everything he desires in this world. If this isn’t proof, you are blind.
I think we will believe the guy in the article I linked over you, LOL.
bad karma's Link
And signed a strong statement against Russia.
The make-up-facts-that-fit-our-narrative left is imploding.
- Invaded & still occupies E. Ukraine
- Used nerve agent to murder in UK
- Murders & jails dissidents, journalists & opposition leaders
- Backs Assad & targets civilians in Syria
- Meddled in 2016 election & laying groundwork for 2018/2020
This moron, puppet, coward sided with Putin over our own intelligence agencies! On a world stage!! BASED ON NOTHING MORE THAN PUTIN’S WORD! Why?? Can ANYONE answer that?? What the hell is happening. Politics aside, this is 100% un-American. Where are you GOP????
TD's Link
What this is, is 100% CYA of the entire Special Prosecutor operation. Every single bit of information "uncovered" thus far was known prior, much of it FAR prior, decades. NEVER FORGET..... this whole thing was not initiated by suspicion of Russian "interference" in the election...... so far all "indictments" involved known information prior. And NONE OF IT REQUIRES A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR..... like the FBI or AG office needs one to investigate crime or espionage.
The Special Prosecutor investigation was 100% initiated by FIRING COMEY. Deep state circling the wagons. Circling them to protect their own investigations, institutions and people, and because they knew they had NOTHING on Trump..... but they wanted to soooooo bad....
When it all shakes down..... Upper echelon in the FBI.... AG office.... deep state players every one..... all are going down in an embarrassing methane flame as they are dragged out into the bright daylight..... they are busting into flame as we watch.... deeply damaging and forever scaring the institutions they claim to fight for. Great job guys....
PutZ is right at home.... methane, like a moth to flame.......
Very interesting article, DL.
Disgraceful.
Remember Nikita Krushchev? : "We will take America without firing a shot. We do not have to invade the US. We will destroy you from within". How telling.
delusionalclown.jpg
Good morning kids. Tuesday and leading the news is the utterly infantile, irresponsible, completely ginned-up outrage at the President for his summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his remarks during the press conference. Let me, as a marginally better informed ordinary observer, try and unpack this as best as I can. Excluding the period of 1941-1945, Russia has been at best a geopolitical rival and at worst an adversarial enemy for almost 100 years (longer if you include the 19th Century imperialists who wanted not only not to sell Alaska to us but envisioned Tsarist expansion into Western Canada and down our Pacific Coast). For nearly 100 years (coincidentally it's the 100th anniversary of the Bolsheviks murdering the Romanovs [last link]), they have been interfering in our internal affairs in an attempt to destabilize us, and foment a communist revolution here at home. Ironic that despite the Soviet collapse in 1991, every major governmental, cultural, academic and media institution has been thoroughly corrupted by socialists and communists to the extent that our youth and too many old enough to know better (or not) have an open, visceral and sometimes violent hatred of their country and fellow citizens. But I digress.
And this brings me back to yesterday's spectacle. The President, as the duly elected commander in chief and head of state has every right and even duty to meet with other foreign leaders, friend and foe alike, in the advancement of our policy, defense of the realm and in the interest of promoting friendly relations. Vladimir Putin is a thug; an ex-KGB agent who views the fall of the old Soviet Union as a catastrophe. As such, he and his allies rule over Russia with an iron fist and will actively strike out at enemies at home and abroad (assassination and invasion included), threatening his neighbors in Eastern Europe and elsewhere and giving aid and comfort to our enemies in the Middle East, especially Iran. That said, despite being essentially a 2nd World Power, he still has nukes, probably aimed at us and therefore you have to deal with him. Hence the summit.
But now, put this all in context with the 2016 presidential campaign, and the fabrication by Clinton/Obama campaign operatives of a phony smear campaign involving Russia and then-candidate Trump and that's why you got what happened in Helsinki yesterday. Circling back, does Russia/did Russia try and meddle in our politics? Yes. Did whatever they did have any affect at all on our election? No. In spite of all this, is there still an ongoing investigation by the DoJ and Robert Mueller ostensibly into all of this? Yes. Is the President, his allies, associates and even family members the targets of this investigation? Yes. Is it legitimate? No.
Everything over the past 18 months to two years has had one purpose and one purpose only: ensure the election of Hillary Clinton and then destroy the campaign and then presidency of Donald Trump. The Mueller witch hunt, which the President rightly called out as such, despite any lack of real evidence to prove that PDT colluded with the Russians to steal the election continues to be the ongoing theme of an increasingly desperate and rabidly insane Democrat-Left-Media complex and their allies in the GOP/Cuckservative wing of their movement. So naturally, when the President openly has a summit with Vladimir Putin, the reaction to it was predictable if not still surprising in its level of unhinged rhetoric.
They have failed on gun control, immigration/amnesty, judicial nominees, tax and economic policy, they're losing control of voting blocs they've enslaved for decades and worst of all, they have lost the ability to control what we think and have exposed themselves as they hacks and propagandists they are to a much broader, heretofore unaware/uninformed audience. And this failure is the work of the man to who is now the focus of their hatred: President Donald J. Trump.
Yes Russia is and was an enemy, yet the Democrat-Media-Academia complex was in bed with them since at least the end of World War 2 as willing allies in an attempt to overthrow the nation as founded, and at the risk of repeating myself, considering the state of our union they almost succeeded, albeit about 30 years too late. So it's particularly galling when the Left dons the decomposed skin suit of Tailgunner Joe McCarthy to shriek "Russia! Russia! Russia!" at us non-stop since November of 2016. And yet Obama was hot and horny to destroy our nuclear deterrent in 2012 and Hillary Clinton engineered the sale of a significant portion of our uranium stockpile to Putin and his cronies in exchange for $400 million in booze money. Related, Daniel Greenfield has an interesting take on the hacking of the DNC vis a vis Bernie Sanders, that great Yankee-Doodle-Dandy flag-waving proud American (not). Yes, Trump is a nemesis but for yesterday's unforgivable sin of exposing the Democrat-Media's complicity in this Russia collusion myth, and the ignoring of the real election shenanigans committed by the Democrats (can you saw Debbie-Wasserman Awan?), they don't care if America is ripped apart (hell that's their goal) so long as Trump is destroyed.
Schmucks like Steve Cohen, Chris Cuomo and John Brennan - the REAL traitor and perhaps the one who has been leading the coup against the President - who shout "treason," and "act of war" are playing with fire. They are actively undermining our foreign policy from their positions (undeserved as they are) of power and influence, and stoking the potential for violence at home as well as confrontation abroad. Thankfully, Putin knows that they are a collective joke. He all but openly busted a gut at that AP reporter yesterday who asked if he had dirt on PDT. Still, this is hardly a matter for levity.
My gut tells me that barring anything unforeseen (and I've had that caveat now for 18 months or more) the Dems are going to lose in November and lose big. How will the average mind-numbed droog react? Considering that the standard operating procedure of the Democrat-Left is to now cast aspersions on every electoral or judicial loss as "collusion" or "theft" or "illegitimate," there can only be one avenue left to them, and that is violence. Vermin like Steve Cohen ought to realize this. Hell, I'm getting the very uneasy feeling that they do. All too well.
Long article that is value added content (internal links/summaries of revealed facts, etc.)
Concludes:
"...Andy McCarthy points out that Rod Rosenstein screwed the pooch with the indictments of the Russians:
What there will be, though, is a new international order in which nation-states are encouraged to file criminal charges against each other’s officials for actions deemed to be provocative (or, more accurately, actions that can be exploited for domestic political purposes). Of all government officials in the world, American officials are the most active on the global stage — and that includes meddling in other countries’ elections. I doubt our diplomats, intelligence operatives, elected officials, and citizens will much like living in the world Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein have given us. If the idea was to give Vladimir Putin and his thug regime a new way to sabotage the United States, nice work.
All day I have watched the screeching anguish of liberals moaning that Trump does not side with the American intelligence community.
Why should he?
Brennan hated and hates Trump.
Comey hated and hates Trump.
Strzok rigged investigations against Trump
McCabe did the same
Clapper hated and hates Trump
All US intelligence agencies were out to take Trump down. Someone tell me why, when every intel agency outside the NSA was out to get Trump that he should trust them and the assessment of a firm hired by the DNC? Why should he trust the assessment of those who created a fake dossier?
If not for Mike Rogers, they would have framed Trump long ago.
What Trump has done is throw done the gauntlet. You say it’s Russians?
PROVE IT.
Produce the servers and let the FBI examine them. CrowdStrike had “no hard evidence” and their findings weren’t solid.
The left is making some serious accusations. PROVE THEM, you gutless cowards."
Leftists are burning their last candle at both ends. The truth and FACTS have lit them..... Overreach (called outside the realm of reality) comes to mind. Anyone with any semblance of logic and proportion are just shaking their head at the media reaction (and leftists hooked arm and arm with my former "conservative" nevertrumpers) It is off the charts overreaction. One needs to look at the FACTS of what Trump has done dealing with the Russians. Not to mention slapping Germany for dealing with them WRT their oil/gas pipelines. THAT is actual action vs yadda yadda yadda... and promising the very next morning (prior to the manufactured outrage) to put in our OWN energy pipeline to Europe in direct opposition to Russian energy.
Good grief..... the stupid is strong with those lying bastages.......
Annony Mouse's Link
July 18, 2018
Reminder: The Russians Targeted Republicans, GOP, and Trump Himself In Their Spearfishing and Hacking Schemes, Too —Ace of Spades
The media and the sillies don't like admitting this, and Mueller doesn't draw much attention to it himself in his indictment. But he does mention it on page 13.
Don't expect to see this on CNN.
Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election wasn't as one-sided as Special Counsel Robert Mueller charges in his latest indictment.
...
"RNC emails were stolen through the same spearphishing scams used against Democrats," a senior U.S. intelligence official familiar with the investigation told RealClearInvestigations. "In fact, prominent Republicans were targeted and similarly victimized by the disclosure of sensitive emails during the campaign."
The indictment acknowledges this on page 13: "The Conspirators also released documents they had stolen in other spearphishing operations, including those they had conducted in 2015 that collected emails from individuals affiliated with the Republican Party."
But that is the only mention of Russian attacks against Republicans in the 29-page indictment that focuses on the targeting and victimization of key Democrats...
In fact, U.S. intelligence officials say the attackers penetrated GOP organizations at both the national and state levels, as well as the individual level, and successfully "exfiltrate" Republican emails during the 2016 election cycle. They add that Trump officials themselves were targeted by Russian intelligence late in 2016, often by phishing schemes, in which fraudulent emails seemingly from trusted sources (e.g. the government, banks or Google) are sent to gain access to personal information.
Mueller's office would not say whether the criminal breaches of GOP organizations carried out by the same bad Russian actors were investigated by his team with the same level of forensic analysis and scrutiny as the Democrat-related cybercrimes.
"We'll decline to comment beyond the indictment," Special Counsel's Office spokesman Peter Carr said.
Yeah, I'll bet you decline to comment.
Read the whole thing.
American Spectator: Political harassers need to be exposed for what they are.
Annony Mouse's Link