Mueller indictments still miss the mark on Trump-Russia collusion

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The Hill

Trump-Russia collusion

BY JONATHAN TURLEY, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 02/17/18 07:00 AM EST 3,138

THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL

Lewis Carroll once wrote in praise of adjectives, saying that “adjectives you can do anything with, but not verbs.” That is certainly true with the latest indictments by special counsel Robert Mueller of 13 Russians for interfering with the 2016 presidential election. For the White House, the entire report comes down to a single adjective. Let’s see if you can spot it: The Russian defendants “communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign.”

Despite a 37-page indictment with a long narrative on a coordinated Russian campaign of interference, the most newsworthy fact comes from the carefully placed adjective “unwitting.” It confirms that the special counsel has found no knowing coordination or collusion between these hackers and Trump officials. The indictment names 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities in alleged interference in the 2016 presidential election. It describes a coordinated effort by Russians, including the shadowy Internet Research Agency, to wage “information warfare” against the United States.  

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Five key takeaways from the Russian indictments

BY NIALL STANAGE - 02/17/18 05:59 AM EST

New indictments of 13 Russians who allegedly meddled in the 2016 election set the political world abuzz on Friday. 

The charges were first posted on the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) website but were fleshed out by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosensteinat a hastily convened news conference.

What are the key political ramifications from the new charges?

Fire and fury from Trump?

President Trump is hypersensitive to any suggestion that his victory over Hillary Clinton in 2016 was illegitimate. These new indictments are sure to get under his skin for precisely that reason.

The indictments lay out in granular detail the nature of the alleged Russian effort to aid Trump. According to prosecutors, that effort involved significant manpower and money. There were more than 80 employees assigned to one part of the project by July 2016, according to court documents, and a broader effort codenamed "Project Lakhta" was being bankrolled at a rate of $1.25 million per month as of September 2016.