There would be even louder complaints from the right to shut down his probe. He disproved the president s claim that it was all a hoax, but as president was quick to point out, still no proof his campaign was involved or that the Election Results were affected. So where does this 4r50leave us . Meanwhile new reporting alleges not just an affair between the from president and a playboy playmate, but also an elaborate coverup system. So what will be the political, the familial fallout . Plus there were multiple warnings about the perpetrator of the Florida School shooting including to the fbi. So why could he not be stopped . And those who pursue teaching know that it will be demanding. But now as we were reminded this week, it can also be dangerous. How will that impact the profession . But first, as i tweeted yesterday, only on a day when the morning story was about a play mate of the year would donald trump be happy to see an afternoon report of 13 russians be indicted for election meddling. It was that kind of a day. By you no yu it was that kind of a day. By you no you now you know 13 r were indicted for meddling. It is all spelled out in a 37 page indictments. The president responded by tweeting russia started their antiu. S. Campaign in 2014 long before i announced that i would run for president. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump Campaign did nothing wrong, no collusion. Okay. Permit me six observations. First, to the president s point, there was no allegation by mueller of the Trump Campaign knowingly cooperating with the russian national, nor that the meddling tipped the balance of the election or as the president likes to say there was no evidence of collusion. But the president can no longer say with a straight face that reports of russias meddling are a hoax. And the president should now be held accountable for his refusal to support congress bid to sanction the russians for interference. Second, this indictment does not return the russian hack of the dnc server. If this group of russian nationals had been involved in that crime, that information would likely be a part of this indictment. That means we have yet to see whatever mueller has found about the mack, whether there was collusion in that regard remains the big unknown. Ack, whether th collusion in that regard remains the big unknown. Hack, whether t collusion in that regard remains the big unknown. Thish t third the goal was partly to support the campaign of donald trump, but mostly it was to screw with the american process. Their aim was to understamine a of us, to spread distrust in general. Fourth, this was a sophisticated effort. Complete with a hierarchy and budget and a headquarters. I read the indictment about the socalled Internet Research agency. Picturing a mafialike Front Organization run like an american business. Im not surprised to learn that they had paid maternity leaves, holidays and a Company Training video for sexual harassment. Fifth notice Robert Mueller position did not mamts did not make the announcement. No doubt he learned from jim comey how not to handle such an important declaration choosing instead to remain in the shadows despite himself having signed the indictments. And by leaving the press believing to the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein probably insulated himself from being fired by donald trump. Sixth and finally, at least for now, something to be appreciated about the mueller indictments, the ability to keep it all secret until the last minute. Before Rod Rosensteins announcement, the media was speculating it could be about the florida shooting. The point is, we have no idea what mueller knows. I want to know what you think. Go to smerconish. Com, answer this question. Do you believe more indictments are still to come from special counsel Robert Mueller . Ill let you know the result at the end of this program. Joining me now, two experts with perfect backgrounds for this story. Daniel hoffman, retired cia station chief who served five years in moscow, currently works as a Vice President of the Consulting Group spg. And john brownly is former u. S. Attorney, served at the Justice Department for a decade, now he runs the white collar criminal defense for the Washington Firm of holland and knight. He represented Virginia Governor bob mcdonnell. Let me begin with you, daniel. Does any operation like this get carried out without the knowledge, without the oversight of Vladimir Putin . No, this is a kremlin operation. And i would describe it as a hybrid operation. There were things that were clandestine like the way they stole u. S. Identities so that they could prop gate disinformation and lead campaign rallies, but it was also discoverable. Respect ifgate disinformation and lead campaign rallies, but it was also discoverable. Respect if they are wellknown for ukraine themes, themes which were disparaging of Opposition Leader and also pro putin them tos. Vladimir putin had a couple reasons for wanting this to be discoverable. I think it serves his interests. He needed a geographic end point for this operation which leads back to russia, that is the best way to soil our democratic process. And it also shows that putin with this relatively inexpensive asymmetric he espionage operati can go toe to toe with the United States. Youre telling us that he wanted it to be discovered. He likes the idea for some reason that we know he meddled in our election. Right. And i think that the counter intuitive part, i read the indictment yesterday and one of the interesting points for me is how Internet Research agency helped produce this pro trump postelection rally. And so if you follow the line that we can prove that Internet Research agency and by extension the kremlin was involved, putin wanted us to think that he was in some way being a king maker, putting his weight on the scale of our democratic process. And he wants that. But daniel, what i read in that indictment is that postelection not only were they orchestrating a blow trump rpro ralgly, the an antitrump rally. The overarching goal, it may have been in 2016 to help donald trump, but they wanted to f with us. Thats what this was all about. Absolutely more than anything it was to sow discord in our political process, degrade our institutions, degrade our trust in our institutions absolutely. And then as well to agitate so that we would be at each others throats over this. I think they have succeeded right well as that also. And there is part of the indictment i want to put up on the screen that makes the point youve observed. It reads as follows, Defendant Organization had a strategic goal to sow discord in the u. S. Political system including the 2016 president ial election. At different points, daniel, they were benefiting bernie sanders. They were benefiting jill stein. And of course they were benefiting donald trump. Oft oftentimes in contradictory crosspurpose fashion. Right. That is the element of their covert influence operations. All they want is for americans they want to heighten the level of animosity and so that we when we have political discourse in this country, what they would like is to help shape the discourse so that it is full of as much animosity as possible. And i think that is why they try to support extreme organizations, not only here, but in europe as well. Okay. Got to ask you as a former cia station chief yourself, do we do this . You know, i cant talk too much about what we do. I would say what the russians are doing is kind of special unto themselves. And i would emphasize as well that in terms of going forward, the onus is on the Intelligence Community and i can tell you from my own experience, we need that kascardinal in the kremlino can tell us what putin is doing, what are his plans for the future going forward. We know to know that desperately. John brownly, let me bring you in. I articulated six things that i found significant. What did you find most significant . Well, i think first of all i agree with your sick. I think th i think that is is a significa criminal indictment. Xk. I think this is a significant criminal indictment. I think this is a significant criminal indictment. We now have credible evidence that russians con fire entired to impact our election. This is one ofof our oldest enemies. And so i think the American Public should be concerned that this has happened, that these folks have come here, whether electronically, some actually in person and conspired to try to impact our election. And so i think that the indictment is significant and i think that the allegations are concerning. And my hope is that we are now taking steps to try to actively find these individuals, bring them here and put them before the bar of justice. So to that point, i was about to say what i didnt see on cnn last night was anybody having cuffs slapped on them, presumably all 13 are outside the jurisdiction of the United States and i dont know that we have any extradition with russia. So how likely there is any trial . One thing that will happen, when indicted, arrest warrants will be issued rktsz they will be put into international databases, interpol and the like. So if they were to leave russia, if they were to travel and go to a country either in europe or somewhere else that has an extradition treaty with the United States, they could be detained and brought here. So essentially they become a prisoner of their own country which for some of these folks might not matter much to them, but it might. And so we can also then take additional steps to try to actively try to pick them up and bring them to the United States for trial. So my hope and i anticipate that there are efforts that will try to bring them here based on these werents that have been issued. John, read the tea leaves for me. There is nothing in this document about the hack. What do you make of that . I think that that is a separate piece of this. I think what youve seen of the special counsel and the Deputy Attorney general, they have been very methodical, each plea agreement or indictment stands on its own and then goes to the next step. So this one has to do with these 13 individuals with these allegations. There are other allegations that have been discussed in the media. Not by the special counsel as you noted. And so i think that he will deal with these things in time. And if he believes that he has sufficient evidence to bring a criminal charge, he will do so. My guess is if he believes that he doesnt or the evidence doesnt warrant it, that he wont. And you wont hear about it. So let me ask you a question as a former prosecutor, not as one of the white shoed fancy firm where you are now heading the defense operations. I was really taken with the fact that i was watching the media ten minutes before rosenstein began speaking and there was speculation as to what would be the subject matter. And many thought he was about to address the florida shooting. It speaks to muellers ability to keep this all under wraps. Were you impressed by that . Very much so. And it goes not only to him but also to his agents from the fbi, to his prosecutors. You know, this is a well put together sophisticated document that took thousands of hours of work to build. This is an impressive document from an investigators perspective and the fact that they were able to keep it under wraps until the Deputy Attorney general decided at his moment, he decided when to let the public know, is impressive. It shows that this is being run in a professional way and knowing bob mueller and knowing Rod Rosenstein, you shouldnt expect anything else. John brownly, thank you so much. Appreciate both of my guests having been here. Make sure youre voting at smerconish. Com, the question do you believe more indictments are still to come from special counsel Robert Mueller is this well give you the results later in the program. This well give you the results later in the program. Katherine, what do we have . Smerconish, compaincident or no it is time the probe be wrapped up. Its been a year. You as a media voice need to stop the hate of trump, stop the bias. Thomas, are you blanking me . Where in lies the hate streredh . I bear no hatred. Mine is an evidentiary analysis and i have to challenge you, did you read the indictment, did you read the 37 page indictment . Because i did and im troubled as an american. Having nothing to do with republicans or democrats, im an independent. They were trying to undermine our society with this campaign. And that should trouble all of us including you, sir. Another one if i have time for it. Wondering how you can say there was no impact on Election Results, 80,000 people in three states. You dont think some of these people were impacted by what the russians did . Joanne, i dont know. Im saying that the indictment makes no claim that the outcome was impacted. But i might want to do something i did this morning, which is go over to nate silver at 538, he has an analysis that he just posted. I think the word he used is agnostic. He just didnt know. Time for one more . No more. Oh, no. Up ahead, there were many warning signs about the perpetrator of this weeks shooting at a florida high school, including attempts to alert the fbi. So why wasnt anything done . Plus the president , playmate and something called catch and kill, the secret way to keep stories out of the news. This is the story of Green MountainCoffee Roasters dark magic told in the time it takes to brew your cup. First, we head to vermont. And go to our coffee shop. And meet dave. Hey. Why is dark magic so spellbindingly good, he asks . Let me show you. Lets go. So we climb. Hike. See a bear. Woah. Reach the top. Dave says dark magic is a bold blend of coffee with rich flavors of uganda, sumatra, colombia and other parts of south america. Like these mountains, each amazing on their own. But together . Magical. All, for a smoother tasting cup of coffee. Green mountain Coffee Roasters packed with goodness. Aah . I would have said you were crazy. But so began the year of me. I discovered the true meaning of paperless discounts. And the indescribable rush of saving drivers an average of 620. Why does fear feel so good . I fell in love three times once with a woman, once with a country, and finally. With myself. So, do you have anything to declare or not . Isnt that what im doing . So, do you have anything to declare or not . Alright, i brought in high protein to help get us moving. And help you feel more strength and energy in just two weeks ill take that. Yeeeeeah ensure high protein. With 16 grams of protein and 4 grams of sugar. Ensure. Always be you. So here is a tough question that needs to be addressed. Should the fbi have prevented the Florida School shooting . On friday, the bureau revealed that a person, quote, close cruz had contacted the fbi on january 5 to report concerns about him, about your the bureau did not appropriately follow established bloat coals in followi protocol. And last fall a mississippi bail bnds man alerted the fbi to the fact that he had seen a comment posted on youtube where someone identifying himself as nikolas cruz had said im going to be a professional school shooter. The bonds man did the right thing, he saw something, he said something. The fbi immediately came out and interviewed him. But the next time he heard from the fbi was wednesday in the immediate after math of the horrific shooting in parkland, florida perpetrated by nikolas cruz. The special sgt in charagent in miami said they couldnt find the person who had posted the comments and they didnt think they had enough data to subpoena google which ownsyoutube to pin point the have had. But only 22 individuals have the name nikolas cruz and three use different spellings. Had. But only 22 individuals have the name nikolas cruz and three use different spellings. First and foremost, i doubt that that is where it would have ended if it were a 24re9s threa islamic terror. And secondly i think this speaks to the inadequacy ever da of da integration. He had a history of anger, deprerks killing d depreciatide depression, killing animals. Everyone is sayings warning signs were there. And cnn reported that since 2010, local Law Enforcement were called to his house 39 times. So you would hope that community knowledge, the 39 police calls, not to mention his ownership of an ar15 notwithstanding the absence of a National Gun Registry would nevertheless have enabled a database search that could have helped the fbi find this guy. We live in an age of apple, google, facebook, amazon. Maybe it is time for the fbi to recruit in Silicon Valley so that they can better manage data to keep us safe. Joining me now is tom fuentes, he spent 30 years in the fbi. What is the issue of 9 lashissu Data Integration . We are acknowledging that this is a catastrophic failure on the part of the fbi with regard to the january report that cruz was going to be violent and possibly do a school shooting. The rest of the information that was not passed on from its call center in West Virginia to the Miami Division of the fbi. So that we acknowledge is a major failure. The biggest one in this thing. But there are other failures as well, including the superintendent of schools acknowledging that he was expelled, they had threats from him, they put a message out to the faculty and staff of that school that if he shows up with a backpac