Indicting 12 Russian hackers from the Russian GRU military intelligence agency today, 73-year-old former FBI Director, Special Counsel Robert Muller explained the obvious about what happened in July 6, 2016 two weeks before the Democratic National Convention. On July 5, former FBI Director James Comey cleared former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton of any wrongdoing with her private email server. Comey concluded, under direction of Deputy FBI Director Peter Strzok, that there was nothing on which to charge Hillary in mishandling her private email server. Strzok testified yesterday in the House Oversight and Judiciary Committees that he found nothing to charge Hillary, despite knowing that Hillary deleted 33,000 emails off her private server and physically destroyed 12 cell phones—something that would automatically trigger obstruction of justice.
Mueller’s 29-page indictment naming 12 Russians working for Russia’s GRU military intelligence are charged with meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. While much of Mueller’s probe focused on the use of social media, like Facebook, Google or Instagram, to influence U.S. voters, there’s a far more direct connection to Russian hacking than releasing damaging emails before the 2016 Democratic National Convention. Operating under the name of Gucifer 2.0, allegedly a Romanian hacker, the GRU cleverly disguised its role in hacking the Democratic National Committee and private email accounts of former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s campaign chairman, John D. Podesta. Most people suspected when WikiLeak’s exiled founder Julian Assange released the hacked emails before the 2016 DNC convention that the hacked material came from Russia.
Hillary did a good job of tying the hacks to her rival President Donald Trump, something Democrats believe with religious certainty. Trump once asked facetiously in the last presidential debate in Las Vegas if Russia knew the whereabouts of Hillary’s missing emails. Anti-Trump media insist Trump has called the entire Russian meddling investigation a witch-hunt. What Trump called a witch-hunt was not Russian meddling, it was Hillary and Democrats’ theory that Trump was directly-or-indirectly involved in the hacking. Trump questioned not whether Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee or Podesta’s private email server, he questioned tying the hacks to his campaign. Mueller’s indictments give Democrats more red meat only days before Trump is due to meet in Helsinki July 16 with 65-year-old Russian President Vladimir Putin—insisting Trump confront Putin.
Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein presented the indictments today, touting real progress in Mueller’s Russian meddling investigation. What the investigation didn’t show is that Trump or any of his campaign officials were involved. “Free and fair elections are hard-fought and contentious, and there will always be adversaries who work to exacerbate domestic differences and try to confuse, divide and conquer us,” Rosentein said in announcing the 12 indictments. Rosentein should stick to the facts, not opine about things he knows nothing about. What made the Russian-hacked Wikileaks data dump so powerful was the fact that it came straight from the horse’s mouth, namely the Russian government. “So long as we are united in our commitment to the shared values enshrined in the Constitution, they will not succeed,” Rosenstein said. Only last week Rosenstein was in the hot seat.
Rosenstein faced blistering questions June 28 in the House Judiciary Committee about why his department had not responded in a timely way to Congressional subpoenas. Rosenstein passed the buck to subordinates, denying that he personally had anything to do with withholding documents. Completing his NATO summit in Brussels and moving on to the U.K., Trump faced withering criticism about meeting with Putin. Senate Democrat Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on Trump to cancel his July 16 meeting with Putin. House Democrats blame Putin for meddling with the 2016 presidential election. Without getting too esoteric, it’s been known for some time that Putin didn’t want Hillary to become president—embarrassing her with the hacked emails. Rosenstein’s 29-page inductment did not implicate any known American or any member of the Trump campaign..
Mueller’s indictment of 12 Russian GRU hackers won’t likely amount to a hill of beans, since the U.S. has no extradition treaty with Russia. WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange swore on his mother’s grave that the hacks published in July 2016 didn’t come from Russia. Whether they came from a third party or not, Assange knew the source of the DNC and Podesta hacks. Contents of the hacks proved damaging to Hillary but only because they exposed nefarious activity at the DNC and in the Hillary campaign. Mueller’s indictments don’t say that Trump adviser Roger Stone or any other Trump official had contacts with Gucifer 2.0, the codename for GRU Russian military intelligence. Why former President Barack Obama’s National Security Agency [NSA] knew this in 2016 and said nothing is anyone’s guess. Democrats want Trump to bring up Mueller’s charges to Putin or cancel Monday’s summit.
