Michael Goodwin: Mueller's Indictment of 13 Russian Nationals Proves 'Trump Won Fair and Square'
Michael Goodwin claims that the recent indictment of Russians proves “Trump won fair and square.”
In an opinion piece for the New York Post, Goodwin said that special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictments of 13 Russians and three Russian companies are important “both for what they say and what they don’t say.”
“They offer huge victories for Trump — and thus more defeats for Hillary Clinton — but they don’t close the books on everything about 2016,” he wrote.
He pointed out that the indictments conclude that any Americans contacted by the Russians did not know who they were dealing with and that the Russian social media efforts, “which ranged from creative to clumsy,” had no impact on the results of the election.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein held a press conference in which he gave details into the indictment charges, making clear that there is nothing in it that says American citizens were knowingly involved.
“Now, there is no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant in this illegal activity,” he said. “There is no allegation in the indictment that the charged conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election.”
Rosenstein’s statement, according to Goodwin, should put to rest any claims that President Donald Trump “stole the election” from Clinton.
“She lost the old-fashioned way — by being a terrible candidate,” Goodwin said. “Case closed, though I’m sure Clinton and her legion of dead-enders will find excuses to keep alive her campaign of victimhood.”
He does admit that the indictments still leave the possibility of Trump or his campaign leaders conspiring with top Russian officials or the possibility of the president obstructing justice when he fired FBI Director James Comey.
The indictment released Friday says that the defendants allegedly conducted “information warfare” against the U.S. in order to spread “distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general,” according to Rosenstein.
Twelve defendants worked for a company called Internet Research Agency, LLC, based in St. Petersburg. It reportedly operated through Russian shell companies.
“It employed hundreds of people in its online operations, ranging from creators of fictitious personas, to technical and administrative support personnel, with an annual budget of millions of dollars,” Rosenstein said.
In order to hide their activity, the Russians “used stolen or fictitious American identities, fraudulent bank accounts and false identification documents.”
Reportedly, they also recruited and paid Americans to participate in political activities by promoting campaigns and staging rallies.
“According to the indictment, the Americans did not know that they were communicating with Russians,” Rosenstein added.
There are eight criminal counts in the indictment.
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