Announced a plea deal with the u. S. Authorities, is in fact someone who worked to rapidly workeda, as it directly with russia as a russian actor, or who considered himself an american. We will bring you those details this get them, but bombshell indictment. Republicans seething on the fact that they feel there was nothing in here to to directly assess whether President Trump nor his campaign was aware of the involvement of russia meddling, but the indictment be on the politics of this, President Trump has been briefed on the indictments and we are awaiting some kind of statement from the white house. Fors said to be in florida the Holiday Weekend. That is the politics. On the policy front, from a broader, historical perspective, this is building on the governments case against russia for their meddling in very clear terms. This is something that began at the end of the Obama Administration and that the u. S. Intelligence community has seized upon in the early year of President Trumps first term in office. On a broader policy front, there is without question, time and time again here, critics questions about how social media companies, most notably, facebook, twitter, and instagram , and how they were able to be utilized by russians to essentially divide americans through social media on everything from race, religion, and greed. Creed. Inie whether or not those the ministrations were aware of what was going on, obviously the attempt was to have an effect on the election. The question Going Forward is what do we do about it . And have we heard anything from the white house or from congress as of yet . This is all breaking moment butnt moment by moment, have we gotten any reaction is to actions to take . Kevin i have been speaking with several sources who work with President Trump, who work on the inside with this administration. All of them are seizing on the notion that there is nothing to see here, as one source put it, in terms of any possible evidence of collusion. Immediately, republicans seizing on the word unwittingly in this more than 50 page indictment about those who were discussing the election with these russian folks. On the flipside of that, to your point exactly, reading this indictments russians are organizing through facebook groups and instagram accounts, rallies across the country, antiHillary Clinton rallies, antiHillary Clinton sentiments, lock her up sentiments. Immediately following the election day, they had a trump is not my president rally. Clearly they are trying to divide americans among any way they see fit. There was no question they were very much against hillary during, spreading that the campaign, that type of rhetoric. Mr. Roden sign mr. Rosenstein saying moments ago that there is directly no evidence that any Trump Campaign official new knew they were talking with anyone from russia. According to the sentiments, russians were using false identities both in how they paid for their account on social media platforms, and also in their oneonone meeting as far back as 2014. So you have that happening, and mr. Rosenstein also saying at this press conference that this ,s a warning to americans particularly political folks, that not everyone is who they say they are. I dont really know how else to put it. This is like a political frill or thriller russian spy novel run amok. Julie just to be clear, there is nothing in this indictment about actual physical meddling with ballots, for example. It seems like it is difficult to unpacked what effect clearly, this could have had an effect on the election, right . Difficult to empirically prove one way or another what that affect was. Kevin exactly. There is no evidence that is presented in either of these investigations on capitol hill or by the Intelligence Community that there were any votes that were impacted by this. Mr. Rosenstein going out of his way to say that at the press conference, when he laid out these cases. That is point number one. Point number two becomes how do we answer your question directly . How to you define this and how you address it moving forward. President trump, at least until now, is yet to endorse the findings of the Intelligence Community. This narrative and this case against russia and their involvement in this has been something that has been thisulated both now with Current Justice Department and also at the end of the Obama Administration. Look, the investigations and the hearings on Silicon Valley are going to continue. Republicans, most noticeably senator lankford, an ultraconservative and someone who very much supports the trump policy agenda, has really gone after the Justice Department to do something, and think back the other week. There was criticism that the Treasury Department did not go after russian Financial Institutions aggressively enough. How will russia respond and how will the president communicate what the latest results of this we just dont know. Scarlet we will get a perspective from russia shortly, but i want to end with you here on what you discussed in regards to social media. Facebook, twitter, those companies have started to see a lot more pushback from congressman in washington en in washington. Now according to this finding, that not only did russians try to support donald trump, they were against Hillary Clinton, and trying to bolster senator Bernie Sanders as well. What support is there from the democrats and republicans when it comes to forcing facebook, forcing the likes of twitter to do more . Now you have both sides of the aisle looking at the damage that has been done. Kevin i spoke with a source earlier this week who works frequently as a lobbyist with the Tech Community who said essentially first and foremost, facebook, instagram, twitter just dont get it, this sense of urgency and the regulatory kitchen sink that could be thrown at them over the span of the next decade as folks are really sifting through this. The second point is that look, there is no evidence that any vote was directly impacted by this, but the notion in terms of disclosure for how these types of political attack ads were being published is just so opposite of the regulatory structure set up for american candidates that have to disclose their own political advertisements. When you look at an instagram accounts, whether it is against trump, prosanders, protrump, no matter what, the notion that a foreign actor was paying for that post, for that political ad and not disclosing it is the bedrock of the political disclosure debate, the foundation of it that we are headed towards. Lots of questions for facebook. Indeed, and we will keep asking them and so is congress. Evans a really in washington. As we said, we will give the russian perspective. For more on this developing story, lets bring in our guests, on the phone from moscow. What isto start with the russian reaction. Are we hearing anything from the ministrations their . We are hearing some official reactions. The Foreign Ministry spokesperson has just posted on facebook her response. An officialseen as russian response. She is calling the allegations completely absurd and is saying how can the u. S. Alleged that just 13 people were able to change the outcome of the elections in the u. S. . 13 people against billions of dollars in the situation, the services in the u. S. She said that these allegation is allegations are completely absurd and nonsense. Scarlet do we know anything about the 13 russian asset nationals or three russian entities . Do they ring a bell in any way . I believe we do not have her with us. We will try to get her back. She is joining us from moscow, so maybe theyve fixed the phone line there. Mention sending that our assignment desk sent to me, that one of the individuals named in the indictment was a st. Petersburg businessman dubbed prudence chef, because his restaurant and catering chef,sses once putins because his restaurant and catering businesses once hosted prudence embassy. He said americans were impressionable people. They see what they want to see. I have Great Respect for them. I am not at all upset that i ended up on this list. If they want to see the devil, let the the end. Let them see it. Scarlet in the meantime, lets get a check on how the markets are faring and moving on these developing stories. Abigail . Bombshelln these indictments, lets take a look at facebook. These are the shares of the social media giant, down one point 6 . It has been down all day, but we see around the time of the announcement, 13 russians and three companies for hacking and lower,a sharp leg facebook lower, because the idea of facebook being used by those russians for some of the hacking administration of the elections for the purposes. These shares lower, and a reversal for the major averages. Gains, the dowe now up just one quarter of 1 , and the tech heavy nasdaq, being weighed on by the likes of facebook now down slightly, just a bit of a reversal after this big week of gains. Speaking of gains on the week, lets hop into the bloomberg and take a look at what is happening for the s p 500. We see over here the s p 500 after two massive down weeks, the worst week since the beginning of january 2016, the s p 500 up 4. 6 . Its best week going all the way back to 2013, but we see swings like this sometimes, it suggests more of the same could be ahead either for the upside or the downside. This trading action is very similar to 2011, one of the possible triggers for the selloff we saw two weeks ago. Showing the s p 500 had been well above the 200 Day Moving Average by about 15 , touching down almost almost touching down to the 200 Day Moving Average. This is something similar that happened in 2011, touching down, bouncing higher, and going back overboughtese conditions and violent moves. The s p 500 both moved below by 200 Day Moving Average almost 50 . That is something to keep in mind. 15 . That is something to keep in mind. The vix has been on pace all day, and we see it is now a little bit higher, up 2. 5 , and reflecting some of the uncertainty about these headlines, the indictment in washington, these big investors perhaps positioning, especially ahead of the long Holiday Weekend in the u. S. We have had if today ends uprising, six straight sessions of gains for the major averages, so that is a context here. Thank you, abigail. Lets check on the first word news with mark crumpton. Mark as we have been reporting, special Counsel Robert Mueller has unveiled the details of a widespread and corrugated campaign by russians to influence the u. S. President ial election in favor of drawn old donald trump. The Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein described the sweeping, years long, multimillion dollar conspiracy by hundreds of russians aimed at criticizing Hillary Clinton and supporting senator Bernie Sanders and mr. Trump. This indictment serves as a reminder that people are not always with a appeared to be who they appear to be. Alleges thatt russian conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine Public Confidence in democracy. We must not allow them to succeed. Mark the charges are the most direct allegation today of the legal russian meddling in the 2016 election of the illegal russian meddling in the 2016 election. The first funerals are being held today for the victims of the Parkland School shooting. Two students. Another service is scheduled sunday for 14yearold jamie gutenberg. Senator bill nelson told reporters outside the high school that he is continuing to work for changes in gun laws. Senator nelson says that the Florida Legislature also bears some responsibility, adding lawmakers could outlaw assault weapons in the state. Maybe this will be the turning point. Maybe the students speaking out so boldly, as they have on national tv, maybe the parents crying out and speaking so boldly, as they have, that maybe this will be the turning point. Because, in fact, enough is enough. Calledenator nelson also on President Trump, who is traveling to florida today. The National Legislation will be hard to pass unless the president supports it, and changes his position on assault weapons and background checks. Germany, in israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu met with the yuan secretary general at the meat you and security general secretary Un Security Council secretary general. Thate Prime Minister said israel captured from syria in 1967 will stay in israel he hands forever. Global news, 24 hours a day, powered by more than 2700 journalists and analysts in more than 120 countries. Im mark crumpton, this is bloomberg. Scarlet . Scarlet thank you, mark. What a week. U. S. Stocks looking to cap their best week since 2013. If you look at the Industry Groups in the s p 500, all 10 are higher for the last five days. Turnaround after a violent selloff the week before. Technology, finance roles financials, and industrials up by 4. 5 , even though the worst performers were the bond proxies, gaining at least 1. 5 . For the s pest week 500, going back to january 2013. This is the best since december 2011. Torlet we will continue monitor. There are almost two hours of trading left. This is bloomberg. Scarlet this is bloomberg markets. Im scarlet fu. Julie im julie hyman. U. S. Equities have recouped their losses, and are on pace for the best week in five years. At the moment. At one point, it was as much as 2011. If you look at the next, it has come back down to below or should i say right around 20. Still up on the day, but at that 20. How long can this relative calm last . Joining us with more is lori cal guests, and her end of the year pro target is seeut she does seem sustained higher volatility is a risk to that. Talk about the outlook for volatility. Are we in a new volatility regime . We have to get used to a little bit more volatility than we have had in the past. I would expect to see traditional spikes in the vix this year, and 25 is the threshold you have to watch. Going back over time. If the average level of the mix for a given year is above 25, markets do not go up. If you stay above that, you tend to see pretty solid gains. The question is will the volatility be sustained at the high level . We think you will see more ups and downs. Rates andhat about stocks . It has been a confusing few weeks. You had the Wage Inflation sign that stents sent stocks down, and we had cpi and stocks went up. What are you chewing off of . Moree way to potential is about the potential hit to margins. The issue with rising rates are gains in the equity market are more dependent on Earnings Growth. You see them flattened out or compress a bit, so you do not get multiple expansions when rates rise. Stocks can still go up, but only as much as Earnings Growth permits it. And people shrug off the cpi itself. Scarlet talk a little bit about what it means if we do get more sustained volatility . How do people go about protecting or hedging themselves . You would have thought that they could go to treasuries as a haven, but during the initial part of the selloff that was not really coming to fruition for them. They had to look elsewhere for ways to hedge. You see that changing as a result of this new era in which volatility spikes will be more frequent . Lori i think the most exciting conclusion about the higher volatility in the equity market markets a better for active managers. It is better than buying passive vehicles to get you through those rough times. Julie we have to leave it there, unfortunately. Of rbc capital markets. A lot of breaking news today. We will have you back soon. From new york, this is bloomberg. We continue with our top story. U. S. Counsel Robert Mueller unveiled the details of a widespread and related campaign by russians influence the u. S. President ial election in favor of president donald trump. Lets bring in whitney okelly, executive editor of financial investigations. Tell us a bit more about what we learned here, because this came as a surprise to many people. Whitney not much of a surprise. Veryve been looking closely at the u. S. Special counsel and what russians did during the campaign. The sweeping nature of this and the details, i am trying to work through them myself. Sweeping conspiracy by the russians to influence the president ial election, laid out in extraordinary detail. One of the things that strikes me is they misused a lot of american companies. Companies like facebook and instagram and paypal and twitter were unwittingly used with fake accounts, fake personas or whatever else. Merlet what has also struck is how the russians seemed to target minority voters in particular. Allegedly there were efforts to suppress minority voters, force example, fake accounts that were black lives matter or black activist accounts, but it seems like it was a pretty pervasive effort into what is being painted in this indictment. Whitney hundreds of people engaged in a variety of actions. It includes social media, actual activities on the ground, and thosere set up, continued after the campaign, even after trump won the election. They were still trying to drum up support. So i think the fact that this continues is on