Rosenstein on Russian Indictment: No American was “knowing participant,” no allegation conduct “altered the outcome of the 2016 election”
13 Russians and 3 Russian entities indicted
This is going to be a tough pill to swallow for the Trump/Russia collusion diehards.
Friday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted 13 Russian nationals and 3 Russian entities for the unregistered interference in U.S. elections.
“From in or around 2014 to the present, Defendants knowingly and intentionally conspired with each other (and with persons known and unknown to the Grand Jury) to defraud the United States by impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful functions of the government through fraud and deceit for the purpose of interfering with the U.S. political and electoral processes, including the presidential election of 2016,” reads the indictment.
The indictment claims these individuals posed as American activists and engaged with “unwitting” US persons in order to fine-tune their strategy. Additionally, several accused individuals committed identity theft, using illegally obtained social security numbers and driver license numbers to bolster the appearance of legitimacy and to place ads on various social media platforms.
A sampling of ads placed:
While Russian operatives may have had a formidable online presence prior to and during the 2016 election cycle, their efforts were not expansive enough to push the needle in any direction.
Not only did the DOJ conclude there was no willing or knowing collusion between any American and Russian operatives, they also concluded Russia’s efforts failed to impact the 2016 election.
During a press conference, Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein said, “There is no allegation in the indictment that any American was a knowing participant in the alleged unlawful activity,” adding “There is no allegation in the indictment that the charged conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election.”
The money line from Rosenstein’s statement:
Full indictment here:
Internet Research Agency Indictment Russian Election Interference by Legal Insurrection on Scribd
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Comments
Fizzle, fizzle, plop.
IT’S A TRICK BIRTHDAY CAKE CANDLE. I KEEP BLOWING IT OUT BUT IT KEEPS RELIGHTING!!!
HEY, LOOK OVER THERE!!! IS THAT A PORN STAR ??
Have you tried pouring a little gasoline on the candle?
“streiff: Today’s Indictments Were a Nothingburger, and If You Disagree, Your Name Must Be Adam Schiff”
http://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=373898
Hey, Merlin, don’t cow pies go “splat,” with very little fizzle?
fify.
Millions spent to find out that 13 Russkies bought some facebook ads. If they weren’t laughing at us before, they are by now.
Mueller is an FBI guy. Now that is something to laugh at.
Be careful, Mueller hasn’t closed up shop yet. This may only be round one.
But Mullah Mueller can’t escape being a long-time Clinton Family Cronie…….
He’s their boy!
” No ma’am. We at the FBI do not have a sense of humor that we are aware of. “
I once lived in an ethnically diverse country. Really, three races one of them predominantly Muslim, one Hindu, and the other Confucian. The word on the street was that one group was lazy, the other drunks, and the third humorless. That is, being humorless ranks right up there with being a drunk or lazy.
“My philosophy is if you don’t have a sense of humor, you’re better off dead. “ Notice the quotes. Not my philosophy, as I hope people see the light.
Frank Drebin – FBI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aem69eSsIus
The sample ads don’t mention Uranium One, or the fat fees that Bill Clinton got for speaking in Russia. I wonder whether any of the other ads allegedly placed by the persons named in the indictment mention raise those issues.
Count these indictments as Team Mueller’s Participation Trophy.
Taxpayer value for money…
This money spent is reviving the economy! Don’t you know Keynesian economics!?
Don’t forget:
1) The indictment talks about these Russians helping Trump / hurting Hillary, hurting Trump / helping Hillary, helping Bernie, helping Jill and in general sowing distrust in our political system. They have accomplished that.
2) The Hillary campaign was fed misinformation about Trump by Russian intelligence agents (current and former) with the express intent of hurting Trump and his chances, and then his presidency.
What he said
This is nothing more than a show. These guys will never get brought to trial. They will never see a US courtroom. It’s a sham.
Now that said, it might be a smart PR move by Trump to call for their extradition to the US and put pressure on Putin.
Correct, and all this crap Rosenstein is peddling will never have to be subject to the scrutiny of cross examination in a court
This is what I wrote in slashdot about half an hour ago:
Being Russian citizens these people are not likely to ever see the inside of a US court.
What is more, these actions are not any different than many other actions that states have taken against each other. The US for example in interfering with Israeli and Iranian elections. Hell we’ve evens taged coups, and very recently in places like … Libya.
This is not something a special prosecutor working for the DoJ should handle. This is a job for the CIA and the NSA which are more experienced in such things, and can handle it without starting WWIII.
All it is is cover for the special prosecutor, who has had very little to justify his work. Hell rumor has it Flynn is now fighting back and they may lose his guilty plea.
Who benefits from this ( aside from Rosenstein and Meuller )? The indictment said that the Russians propped up Bernie and Trump. At whose cost? Hillary’s. So this announcement props up Hillary who “would have won if not for Russian involvement. Who did most of the members of Meullers team work for before? Hillary. Big surprise.
So if Mueller/Rosenstein want to go after foreigner who steal Social Security numbers and drivers licenses to convince others they are not themselves then the Dreamers should beware
That is a nice idea I would like to see to fruition.
Rosenstein has about as much credibility as the traitors he’s been paid-off to protect, most notably hillary klinton.
Listening to him talk is like watching a parody.
The bad joke that is rosenstein rests on Session’s head – who has also become a very bad joke.
Did he ever mention exactly which Federal Statutes were violated by these Russians?
The statutes purportedly violated are listed on the criminal complaint:
18 USC 1, 371, 1349, 1028A.
He forgot to mention the many, many, many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many,many, many, felonies committed by hillary klinton, barack obama, susan rice, samantha power, lois lerner and the rest of the gang in the greatest scandal in American history in, among other things. trying to rig a presidential election.
Rosenstein, wray, sessions: the three un-funny stooges.
Correction: should read:
18 USC 2, 371, 1349, 1028A.
2:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2
371:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/371
1349:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1349
1028A:
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1028A
Between this, and the fiasco of the obama/clinton corruption scandal in the FBI, Trump should ask rosenstein and wray to resign today.
Sessions, too.
So I guess these Russians were not the right type of dreamers?
They did dream: that a second corrupt klutz killary klinton would be the president of the US.
Donald Trump: corrupt klutz dream-killer. And WE appointed him.
So is that it? Can Mr. Mueller conclude his investigation and turn these charges over to a regular Federal prosecutor? The special counsel can say he got some scalps, and everyone can put the Russiagate narrative to bed.
I guess Hillary Clinton lost the 2016 election because she didn’t put any money in “Facebook” or “Twitter” advertisements.
Sorry to be blunt, but WE HAVE PAID 5, 10, 15 ? MILLION $$$
for this pile of crap, after a YEAR ???
No wonder WE DESPISE our FERAL gov’t officials at this point !
Fifteen million is a drop in the bucket compared to the TRILLIONS dollars obama looted from the country to transfer to his leftist allies.
And drop in the bucket compared to the MILLIONS hillary klinton stole, extorted, or accepted bribes for.
Jeff Sessions failure to investigate both the above makes him an accessory after the fact.
I wonder what, on average, each of these indictments has cost the taxpayer so far. For a government which runs on money it doesn’t have, this is not a frivolous concern.
Subtitle translation:
After over a year of exhaustive and often illegal investigations we’ve realized that the common people have realized it was Democrats that were actually colluding with Russia, so we’re pulling a few charges out of our asses that we know are never going to stick in trial so we can pretend we were right.
Seriously this is just fucking pathetic.
No, this is just CORRUPTION.
Kind of like the story of the NYC ice skating rink that the city spending $12,000,000.00 dollars over YEARS to NEVER complet – and Trump gets involved and finishes it in two and a half months for 3/4 of a million.
People in Herr Mueller’s investigation got paid DOUBLE what they normally earn. Considering he only hired democrat hacks, of course this was corruption. But it was also a payoff to hide obama’s and hillary klinton’s corruption.
Enough of this b.s. President Trump: FIRE SESSIONS.
MSDNC is shouting that these indictments blow up Trump’s narrative of no collusion, even though no Trump campaign officials or any Americans are included in the indictment.
While we are on the topic of violence and mental health, MSDNC and the left generally seems to be populated by very mentally sick people who literally live in an alternate universe.
That is extremely concerning for many reasons, not the least of which is they do not understand actual events in real time, and will not be convinced when many officials from the prior administration are indicted.
“MSDNC and the left generally seems to be populated by very mentally sick people who literally live in an alternate universe….”
They’re not mentally ill. Rather, they have everything invested in their thinking they’re somehow intellectually superior to the rest of us. Instead of these arrogant ignoramuses admitting to themselves they have their head up their butt factually, they’d rather see the nation destroyed. That’s a narcissist for you.
Try messing with an alcoholic’s denial, and you’ll see what we’re dealing with.
7 Signs Of Alcoholic Denial (and ‘liberal’ pseudointellectuals:)
https://anaheimlighthouse.com/blog/7-signs-of-alcoholic-denial/
If the Russian aim was to sew distrust in U.S. elections and steer votes away from Hillary, they wasted their time and money. I already distrusted elections, especially recounts with democrats and close results, and never would have voted for Hillary.
I agree, it’s been fishy for years.
These guys are now sitting in their fine offices—offices that you and I pay for, by the way—patting themselves on the back for a job exceptionally well done.
The fact that they did not PROTECT us from these guys sorta went unmentioned. Oh gee, we regret it … just like we regret not picking up on Nikolas Cruz.
I HAVE to think the timing of that little dweeb Rosenstein’s news conference today was just random. Riiiight!
You know they are trying to displace the peoples’ attention away from the massive FBI failing in Florida.
What we saw today was all kabuki. Where do you think the rubles came from to do all this? The World Bank? UNESCO? AT&T? Oh, maybe the Kremlin. And that same Kremlin is going to fall all over itself giving these guys up for extradition. Riiiight!
What galls me is that they think that we are so damned stupid that we would fall for this crap. George Snuffupagus was all in a lather, trying to make it into something that it is clearly not.
Counting the days until IG Horowitz releases his report. Maybe then, some of these sunsofbitches will be fired. But then again, I doubt it.
Sigh.
Now Russia will indict 23 Americans for interfering in Russia elections and so on………….
Putin should extradite these 13 for trial. Let’s hear what evidence Mueller has and what evidence the defense lawyers might discover.
If Putin wants to disrupt our electoral process this would be a great way to do it.
So when may we expect the crackdown on illegal aliens from Mexico?
When hell freezes, or pigs fly, or just make one up
“This is going to be a tough pill to swallow for the Trump/Russia collusion diehards.”
No, it won’t be. They’re delusional – facts and reality have no impact on them. I work with people who believe Al Gore won in Florida, Trayvon Martin was a victim, and never a lie came from the mouth of Barack Obama. Note my language – “believe,” not “think.” It’s a religious cult. They need no proof for their beliefs and they reject all evidence that they’re mistaken.
It’s the church of willful ignorance, I too have met some of it’s congregants. Interesting times!
All, or nearly all, of the excerpts about Hillary are true. So the Russians tried to influence a presidential election by spreading the truth about Hillary Clinton? Isn’t that the media’s job?
i’ll take “What are people who will never see the inside of an American court room” for $500 Alex…
No. Now we know – Hillary lost because Facebook and Twitter are SEXIST!!!!
Meanwhile in the forests of Northern Idaho, the Febbies have yet again staked out a lone cabin in the woods for the possibility of another Randy Weaver type firing his AR-15 at a paper target. Perish the thought that is his 16 year old son is doing the same thing beside him.
I’ve not read it elsewhere, but the ‘for him before they were against him’ nature of these ‘activities’ parallels quite nicely the MSM game plan to help make Trump the nominee ($$millions in free publicity!), based on the absolute conviction that he would be the easiest for Hillary to defeat, only to see it backfire Bigly.
So the notion that these ‘state actors’ were actually working to help elect Hillary all along is not that much of a stretch.
How quickly we forget that the MSM and the Hillary campaign pushed Trump and disparaged the other Republican candidates in exactly the same way. Then as soon as Trump was the acknowledged candidate created the Russian fiction out of this childish assembly of ad buys and comments.
The BIG Question. Did Hillary pay these Russians also to create the fiction of a Trump/Russian conspiracy? Let’s see the checks.
Slow Joe and Dumb as a Rock Mika couldn’t get enough of Trump
Until he won.
CNN would drop from breaking news if Trump called in
Until he won
Now a Facebook exec has claimed that most of the Facebook ‘buys’ by the ‘Russians’ occurred after the election. Most interesting.
This is going to be a very hard pill for the die hard collusionists to swallow! Especially people like Mad Maxine Waters. And what about Shut down Schummer who said he had evidence that President Trump colluded with Russia???? Now we will call him Proofless Schummer!
These “indictments” are simply a way for Mueller to claim he is following his mandate to investigate Russian attempts to influence the 2016 elections. And, he is doing it in such a way as to be able to justify winding down his investigation. Why? Servergate, Clinton Foundation, Clinton collusion with foreign governments for opo research, U-One, leaks of classified material by Obama Administration members.
The old strategy of continuing to accuse Trump of colluding with Russia during the election, in order to distract from Clinton/Obama improprieties and illegalities, has boomeranged and the chickens are coming home to roost in the Clinton/Obama hen house. The new strategy is to close the case and hope that all the Clinton/Obama peccadilloes go away too. Look for the guilty plea of Mike Flynn to be quietly vacated in the not so distant future.
Libs on the other sites I’ve visited aren’t discouraged at all. TDS is strong and won’t quit regardless. TDS is worse than the hole in globull warming theory.
So I get my chuckles by telling those libs that obviously the low information voter (they’re trying to steal it from Rush L) bought the rooskie line about Repubs voting on Tuesdays and dems on Wednesdays. Hasn’t brought me any love for some reason.
Anyone who can’t figure out who to vote for because facebook/twitter/instagram etc. SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO VOTE. Things we need… National voter ID. Serialized paper ballots with tear off verification code for the voter. Also, ANY foreign national trying to influence our elections is now fair game for indictment, correct?
They determined that the only american participants were, google and twitter were unwitting. Blinded by greed actually.
Expect Russia to indict Hillary Clinton any day now for encouraging regime change over there. US citizens who know Russian dissidents better stay away too.
Every time a Chrysler Facebook ad pops up I think about how some Italians are trying to influence my car purchasing. This Meuller investigation has turned out to be an even bigger joke than it was before.
Mueller has run out of American targets (for now), but desperately needs a rationale to keep his scam going until the November elections. That’s all this is.
Once these patsies stop filling that role, he’ll find others.
Kemberlee Kaye: Not only did the DOJ conclude there was no willing or knowing collusion between any American and Russian operatives, they also concluded Russia’s efforts failed to impact the 2016 election.
Both of those statements are false. What Rosenstein said was “there is no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant in this illegal activity. There is no allegation in the indictment that the charged conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election.”
Saying there is no allegation is not the same as a conclusion, as you stated.
December 7, 1941: Japan attacks the United States.
FDR tweets: The Roosevelt campaign did nothing wrong – no collusion!
Zachriel, a russian commie. What’s the pay scale for idiotic comments?
Bonus question – Are you actually being paid to make leftists look like fools?
Maybe your paymaster is not who you think.
Anybody heard from Yellowsnake? Should we ask the authorities to perform a ‘welfare check’?
I wouldn’t be shocked if Snake turned out to be a Ruskie bot …
Seriously, if this is the “bombshell” announcement from the Ruskie Collusion Probe, Mueller would have been out in front soaking up the limelight. But this was so abjectly pathetic, Mueller didn’t want to be within a hundred miles of that press conference.
Bob, it’s over. Claim the indictments as your victory and return to your retirement.
Other than the identity theft, where’s the crime? If these people were in the US they had the constitutional right to “interfere” with the election by talking to people and trying to sway their votes. The constitution protects everybody’s rights equally, regardless of citizenship or legal status, so long as the person is subject to US law.
Milhouse: If these people were in the US they had the constitutional right to “interfere” with the election by talking to people and trying to sway their votes.
They visited the U.S. to gather information, but worked out of Saint Petersburg Russia. They were in the employ of a foreign government, not some Джон Смит on the street, a foreign government involved in cyberware, such as the DNC hack, or shutting off the lights in the Ukraine.
Of note, they themselves called it “information warfare”, a concerted effort to undermine American democracy. Their activities are consistent with their efforts against U.S. allies in Europe, including fragile new democracies.