Had intended. Originally it was supposed to be a state visit. That was downgrade e ed appreci to a tea, not the overnight dinner that president obama and his wife enjoyed at buckingham palace. The queen has been waiting. They will together see the honor guard, as you see Melania Trump getting ready to greet her majesty. As is notable, there are no microphones close by. The american pool and Host Television are being kept at quite a distance. Now posing with the 92yearold monarch, the longest serving monarch in british history. Queen elizabeth ii, beloved by her people and around the world. Shes met every leader. And we can hear now the National Anthem played by the British Military band. Lets listen. And as weve heard the anthem, the guard, the troops of the Household Division arrayed there at windsor castle. The queen has met every foreign leader, every head of state, since 1952, the coronation, the death of her father. She is very smart, very wellversed in World Affairs but extremely observant to the caution that there never be a Public Statement by her of anything political. She would certainly not opine on the controversy now going on some 30 miles away in london, where masses of people are protesting against the american president. Unprecedented, to have this kind of hostility between the british people and the american leader. They will be going inside for tea. There will be no coverage inside. A still photo, we understand, will be released. This is the kind of pageantry we know President Trump loves. But it is not the ride in a golden carriage through london that he had once thought of, we understand, which would have been his had there been a state visit, prior to a series of gaffes and policy pronouncements on everything from immigration to trade. Most notably, as he was arriving in london for this meeting with the queen and before that, with theresa may, phrasing boris johnson, her rival who just resigned from the cabinet as her foreign cabinet, the equivalent of our secretary of state, over differences over her strategy for implementing the brexit, the separation of england from the European Union mandated by that referendum, a referendum now that we understand may well have been aided covertly by the kremlin in the same way that russia hacked into the American Election. And that of course set the stage for a remarkable split screen. Were about to have a News Conference from Rod Rosenstein. No official word on what to expect. But we understand there could be some significant announcements from the Justice Department. Nick burns, as you watch this with me, former ambassador to nato, as someone who is in administrations as a veteran diplomat, republican and democratic, we are now hearing that 12 russians have been indicted by the Justice Department, russian Intelligence Officers charged with hacking. Now, we know how difficult it would be to ever pursue them in terms of getting them here and prosecuting them, but this adds to the 13 russians who were not directly involved with the government per se. But these are russian intelligence operatives who are charged with hacking the Democratic National committee in the runup to the 2016 election. And andrea, these are russian officials who actually attacked the Democratic National committee in 2016. It puts enormous pressure on President Trump to raise this issue directly with the kgb spymaster Vladimir Putin in helsinki on monday. If he doesnt, you could make the charge the president is not defending our country from this type of russian attack. Even earlier today, at the News Conference at chequers with theresa may, he was asked by Kristen Welker whether he had played into the hands of americas oldest adversary, and he reacted angrily, calling it fake news and saying he was stronger than ever coming out of nato. You were a nato ambassador. Yes. Andrea, i must say, you and i have seen a lot of summits. No american president has ever had such a chaotic, disputatious trip to europe as President Trump has had. Hes attacked angela merkel, theresa may, nato, the European Union. Hes gone after all of our allies. Yet no criticism of our adversaries. Such a contrast. Vladimir putin is of course the chief adversary of nato. Right now ken dilanian has the indictment. Ken, brief us on who has been indicted. These are officially members of russian intelligence. Andrea, were waiting for Pete Williams to transmit that to us, hes at the Justice Department. We reported some months ago that Robert Mueller and his team had the evidence to do it, had it for some time in fact, and was waiting for the right time. And the right time appears to be just a few days before donald trump is to sit down with Vladimir Putin for a summit, which is remarkable, that this decision was made. It really looks like a stick in the eye of trump by Robert Mueller and Rod Rosenstein, who is supervising this investigation. And, you know, i was talking to people in the Intelligence Community today. They had no idea that this was coming. Im certain that some people within the director of national intelligence, within the state department, have been consulted about a decision to indict foreign nationals, because thats the way it often would happen. But at the operational level, many people had no idea this was coming, even as a summit was being planned with Vladimir Putin, andrea. And the implications are so broad here, ken. First of all, this is the first indictment that actually involves russian officials. And we know that these may be the officials reporting through former ambassador kislyak who was the ambassador for quite a long time during this period in the United States and also in the oval office with President Trump and foreign minister lavrov. There have been all sorts of questions raised about that. What we have yet to see, if this report is accurate, were going to await Rod Rosensteins briefing on it, there are no americans yet indicted and implicated in colluding with the russians who have so far been indicted. There is a fairly short timeline, ken. We know from a lot of practice and certain by the report of the Inspector General criticizing former fbi chief comey for doing things so close to the election back in 2016, within days of the election, reopening the investigation of Hillary Clinton, you know that there is pressure on Robert Mueller to do whatever hes going to do before labor day or right early in september but not close to the midterm elections, ken. I think thats absolutely right. And i think we should consider this indictment of 12 russian Intelligence Officers as part two of a story that Robert Mueller is trying to tell through Court Filings about how the russians interfered with the election. If you will recall a few month ago, he issued a massive indictment of russians accused of manipulating social media and the Internet Research agency, the troll farms, facebook, ads. And they were charged with illegally interfering in the American Election, election law violations. But there was no mention of the hacking in that indictment. Apparently this indictment will lay out how the russian government hacked the democrats, hacked Hillary ClintonsCampaign Chairman john podesta, transmitted that information to wikileaks, which is distributed strategically to hurt the democrats in the campaign. The question is whether any americans, either affiliated with the Trump Campaign or not affiliated, helped that effort. Many people believe these operation was so wellplaced, so weaponized, the russians would have had to have americans who knew about the american political system. They targeted local raisces in florida. Rod rosenstein is beginning to speak. Were bringing this to you live. An indictment presented by the special counsels office. The indictment charges 12 Russian Military officers by name for conspiring to interfere with the 2016 president ial election. 11 of the defendants are charged with conspiring to hack into computers, steal documents, and release those documents with the intent to interfere in the election. One of those defendants, and a 12th Russian Military officer, are charged with conspiring to infiltrate computers of organizations involved in administering the elections, including state boards of election, secretaries of state, and companies that supply software used to administer elections. According to the allegations in the indictment, the defendants worked for two units of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the russian general staff known as the gru. The units engaged in active Cyber Operations to interfere in the 2016 president ial election. There was one unit that engaged in active Cyber Operations by stealing information, and a different unit that was responsible for disseminating the stolen information. The defendants used two techniques to steal information. First, they used a scheme known as spearfishing which involves sending misleading email messages and tricking the users into disclosing their passwords and security information. Secondly, the defendants hacked into Computer Networks and installed Malicious Software that allowed them to spy on users and capture keystrokes, take screenshots, and exfiltrate or remove data from those computers. The u. S. President ial campaign, including the Campaign Chairman, starting in march of 2016. They also hacked into the Computer Networks of a Congressional Campaign committee and a National Political committee. The defendants covertly monitored the computers and planted hundreds of files containing malicious computer code and stole and other documents. The conspirators created fictitious online personas including dcleaks and guccifer 2. 0 and used those personas to release information including thousands of stolen emails and other documents beginning in june of 2016. The defendants falsely claimed that dcleaks was a group of american hackers and that guccifer 2. 0 was a lone romanian hacker. In fact both were created and controlled by the russian gru. In addition to releasing documents directly to the public, the defendants transferred stolen documents to another organization that is not identified by name in the indictment and they used that organization as a passthrough to release the documents. They discussed the timing of the release in an attempt to enhance the impact on the election. In an effort to conceal their connections to russia, the defendants used a network of computers around the world and they paid for it using cryptocurrencies. The conspirators corresponded with several americans during the course of the conspiracy through the interpret. There is no allegation in this indictment that the americans knew that they were corresponding with russian Intelligence Officers. In a second, related conspiracy, russian gru officers hacked the website of a state election board and stole information about 500,000 voters. They also hacked into computers of a company that supplied software used to verify Voter Registration information. They targeted state and local officials responsible for administering elections and they sent spearfishing emails to people involved in administering elections including attaching Malicious Software. The indictment includes 11 criminal allegations and a forfeiture allegation. Count 1 charges 11 defendants for conspiring to Access Computers without authorization and to damage those computers in connection with efforts to interfere with the president ial election. Counts 2 through 9 charge those 11 defendants with aggravated Identity Theft by employing user names and passwords of victims in order to commit computer fraud. Count 10 charges those 11 defendants with Money Laundering for transferring cryptocurrencies through a web of transactions in order to purchase computer servers, register domains, and make other payments in furtherance of their hacking activities while trying to conceal their connections to russia. Count 11 charges two defendants for separate conspiracy, to Access Computers without authorization and to damage those computers in connection with efforts to infiltrate computers used to administer elections. Finally, the indictment seeks the forfeiture of property involved in the criminal activity. There is no allegation in this indictment that any american citizen committed a crime. There is no allegation that the conspiracy changed the vote count or affected any election result. The special counsels investigation is ongoing. There will be no comments on the special counsel at this time. Assistant attorney general john demaris is with me today because we intend to transfer responsibility to this indictment to the Justice Departments National Security Division while we await the apprehension of the defendants. Principal associate Deputy Attorney general ed ocallahan is with me. People who speculate about federal investigations usually do not know all of the relevant facts. We do not try cases on television or in congressional hearings. Most anonymous leaks are not from the government officials who are actually conducting these investigations. We follow the rule of law, which means that we follow procedures. And we reserve judgment. We complete our investigations and we evaluate all of the relevant evidence before we reach any conclusion. That is how the American People expect their department of justice to operate and that is how our department is going to operate. In our justice system, everyone who is charged with a crime is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. It should go without saying that people who are not charged with a crime also are presumed innocent. The indictment was returned today because prosecutors determined that the evidence was sufficient to present these allegations to a federal grand jury. Our analysis is based solely on the facts, the law, and department of justice policies. I briefed President Trump about these allegations earlier this week. The president is fully aware of the departments actions today. In my remarks i have not identified the victims. We confront foreign interference in American Elections. Its important for us to avoid thinking politically, as republicans or democrats, and instead to think patriotically as americans. Our response must not depend on which side was victimized. The internet allows foreign adversaries to attack america in new and unexpected ways. Free and Fair Elections are always hardfought and contentious. There will always be adversaries who seek to exacerbate our divisions and try to confuse, divide, and conquer. So long as we are united in our commitment to the values enshrined in the constitution, they will not succeed. A partisan warfare fueled by modern technology does not fairly reflect the grace, dignity, and unity of the American People. The blame for election interference belongs to the criminals who committed election interference. We need to Work Together to hold the perpetrators accountable. And we need to keep moving forward to preserve our values, protect against future interference, and defend america. I have time to take a few questions. Reporter a quick question for you, sir. Number one, the timing today on the eve of the president s meeting with putin, can you talk about that . And also, just today, the president described the Mueller Investigation as a witch hunt. Your response . The timing, as i mentioned, is a function of the collection of the facts, the evidence and the law, and a determination that it was sufficient to present the indictment at this time. As i mentioned, i did brief the president. With regard to the nature of the investigation, i only comment on the evidence. The evidence that is reflected in our indictments and in our charges re