What Mueller’s Indictment of 12 Russian Officers Means

FEATURING STEPHEN SPAULDING – President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin at a high-level summit in Helsinki, Finland on Monday. The meeting followed from a 4-day trip to the UK where Trump was dogged by continuous protests from the streets of London to the area around his golf course in Scotland.

While he was in the UK, news broke of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of 12 Russian citizens over election meddling in the 2016 Presidential race. Trump was urged by lawmakers, including Republicans, to raise the issue with Mr. Putin but Trump refused. On Monday morning he and Mr. Putin faced reporters together and had a joint press conference where Mr. Trump repeatedly defended Putin against his own Justice Department’s findings.

On Friday Mr. Mueller released a detailed indictment of 12 military intelligence officials from Russia and outlined their hacking efforts into the computer servers of the Democratic National Committee and their subsequent efforts to use the information they harvested to influence the outcome of the US Presidential race. Trump immediately tweeted that it was President Obama’s responsibility to have done something about the interference.

Stephen Spaulding, Chief of Strategy and External Affairs for Common Cause.