That the president has been acid wously denying for more than a year now, that there was a in fact a major russian operation to interfere in the 2016 u. S. Election. And, you know, the Intelligence Community has been saying for a year now that they have high confidence that that is the case. And here you have the u. S. Department of justice and a grant Ju Grand Jury saying they can prove that beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law, using admissible evidence. And that, you know, is a Rod Rosenstein today was extremely careful not to offend the president and make sure that no americans were witting participants in this plot. But that is a remarkable factual repudiation of the entire
he was very careful to stay within what is alleged in the indictment. But he did make a point on several occasions of saying that no americans are accused of participation in this. And i do think that was probably aimed at the president in a fashion that allows the president at least until such a time as there is an allegation of collusion, to say this has really very little to do with me. On the other hand, its very hard to read this indictment and not think it has something to do with donald trump because the indictment is an allegation of a significant russian conspiracy to defraud multiple u. S. Regulatory agencies, including the federal Election Commission and the Justice Department in order to fool americans to the
advantage or donald trump and the disadvantage of Hillary Clinton. As concerned as donald trump and as concerned as he is about the appearance that he had help in the election, all the Rod Rosensteins saying theres no allegation of witting u. S. Involvement in this will not erase the top line from this, which is, you know, the premise is true, there really was a russian is conspiracy to affect the election to the advantage of donald trump. Ben, the indictment names three different Trump Campaign officials. Do we and as you and i are in agreement that deputy tone general rosenstein was making abundantly clear that these indictments today do not allege
that initiate on the Trump Campaign wittingly engaged. But were giving persons one, two, and three. Are you giving any suspicions that there are people cooperating with bob mueller, like George Popadopoulos, or carter page, or could they be three people we have never talked about . Either is possible. And i dont know. But i do think, you knowi do think as you said earlier that it is possible to read a little bit too much into the unwitting language here. Indictments generally dont allege things that theyre not prepared yet to prove, and something that is not an allegation of any witting collaboration of anyone on the Trump Campaign, doesnt mean one wont materialize over time. Moreover, its really important
to emphasize that this operation described in this indictment is not the hacking operation. So usually when we think of russian intervention in the election, and interference in the election, were thinking of stolen emails, right . And those are the subject of, for example, the trump tower meeting, the, you know, the George Popadopoulos saying, you know, hearing that theres dirt on hillary, right, these are references, at least we assume to emails that have been per loined by russian hackers. That is not the subject of this indictment. So this is a completely separate set of operations that allegedly involves these troll farms and these influence operations. So i dont think in any sense it precludes a collusion allegation, and i think it would be very hasty of people who were inclined to defend the president
to assume that theres any vindication in the absence of such an allegation here. Thank you very much, and to viewers just tuning in and learning of sock puppets and troll farms, perhaps someday well have a chance to pull back and list these new definitions that are new to the american lexicon, i for one, cant wait to find out what they grow at these troll farms and could i bring my family to one . Are they within driving distance of the new york metropolitan area. Two pieces of business, number one, let me show you Air Force One on a rainy tarmac that those of a certain age will always call Andrews Air Force base, rather than its clunk i can new name of Air Force Base andrews. You know what happens, the helicopter lifts off from the white house, nicole, seven minutes by air . Beautiful ride, you get to peek very closely at the washington monument, you go over the pentagon and you land about 7 to 10 minutes. 7 to 10 minutes, it will land and the president will walk from the chopper to the plane and will be air lifted to florida where the weather is more beautiful. Something to keep in mind as we talk to bigger and bigger brain brains. He has tweeted that Russian Collusion was a hoax dozens of time, im sure someone can get us a better count than that. What im on the lookout for is for trump to look for Arrest Firmati Fi Affirmation from his circle of
pals, sean hannity and others, im right, right . A good day in america. And we have to always keep in mind that whats happening in washington is relatively unprecedented, in that you used to use the White House Briefing room, the podium to speak to the world, you used to use the doj podium to speak to the world, about blowing up a big drug ring, about blowing up a big crime ring, terrorism. All these podiums are being used by one man and thats donald trump. We can talk about the legal significance and what it all means, but what es going to happen on that airplane and whats happening in the helicopter and whats happening on Donald Trumps device is that this is a good day for him. Ylet me just read something,
this is a report from the Pool Reporter on the south lawn at the white house, youre going to see the camera lens trying to pick up the first pictures of Air Force One there in the air, theyre aloft and en route to andrews. President left the oval office at 3 04 p. M. Eastern time, thats ten minutes away, we should be seeing the chopper, walk to Air Force One without the reporters assembled. He seemed to Say Something we couldnt hear over the rotor noise of the helicopter, he said something about russia and affairs with women. Marine one airborne at 3 09, so that was roughly six minutes ago. Matt miller has just joined our conversation, chief Justice Department spokesperson, matt, we have yet to get to you, what stuck out to you . Let me pick up on this let me interrupt you as soon as i introduce to you, this is tape, but this is what we just watched transpire on the south lawn. Mr. President , will you punish russia . Will you put sanctions on russia . Nothing on russia mr. President . Well, he gave a thumbsup. Its the same person who jokingly said join us for tea at the end of that. The first of two helicopters landing at the front end of Air Force One. Three in all, though, those are different. That last helicopter is a
variant of the blackhawk, the first two are the standard secorskys. This will be the last video well see of President Trump going to florida. Matt miller, please continue, i apologize. I wanted to pick up on this question that nicole asked about why Rod Rosenstein held this press Conference Today and why he used the d. C. Oj podium. I think its important, we have seen the white house come under a great deal of pressure, under attack by the president recently. I think he also held this Press Conference to talk to the American People and tell them two things, one russian interference is not a hocax. You see this in the indictment, but its important to have not just bob mueller through papers filed with the court, but to his boss Rod Rosenstein, hes a republican who was appointed by this president. Him standing up and putting his reputation behind it. And two, Rod Rosenstein for the first time in this investigation, this hasnt happened, either the times they have announced indictments and putting his endorsement behind bob mueller. This is Rod Rosensteins way of saying this investigation is getting results, its showing fruit and i think it should be allowed to continue. This is an endorsement of that work by Rod Rosenstein, at a time when we have seen so many attacks on the president both from inside and outside the white house. Im going through a lot of the reporting that i have seen in the hours since the rosenstein Press Conference, so much of this needs to be thought about and hashed out. Heres a sub head from daily beast. Kellyanne conway and donald trump jr. Pushed messages from an account operated from russias troll farm including allegations of voter fraud a
week before election day. This is just one headline as some of our colleagues wade through all of this, we have heard this at our own table today from nicole and ari and jill and the volume of information to wade through in this indictment is staggering. Yeah, theres an extraordinary amount of information in this indictment and its going to take some time to follow all the leads from a public standpoint that it produces, of course bob mewinger is already following all of them in secret as he suggests his investigation. I think that would be a sign, Kellyanne Conway tweeting this information of the kind of unwitting sup fort and unwitting actions that this indictment speaks to, theyre speaking specifically in the indictment of the three Campaign Officials who appeared to interact unknowingly with russians. This was undoubtedly a conspiracy, it was a conspiracy to defraud the United States and to interfere in our elections
and some of the conspirators are named and some are not. So the question over the coming months are going to be, that Kellyanne Conway tweet looks like an unwitting interaction. But was there still americans in on the conspiracy, thats a question that has yet to be unanswered. The marine pilots have taxied the helicopter to a halt. The door will be opened both fore and aft. The president tweeted, russia started their campaign in 2015, long before i announced that i would run for president. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump Campaign did nothing wrong. And a message we have heard from him before, to wrap this up. No collusion. Ari melber, your off the cuff
reaction to reading that as we watch the scene at andrews . Its an extraordinary admission from the president of the United States from bob mueller of something that he has publicly denied, counter factual to the law, to the evidence, to his own appointees for what is now years. It is a remarkable statement, it is a statement made under pressure and during rez. It is not a legally significant statement because the president can state his opinions however he wants, brian, but we are witnessing as we watch the pageantry of the president s motions, the movement here, we watch in the newsroom, were witnessing the american system asserting itself and working, i would say it this way and i dont mean to sound rude, but donald trump just coughed up a fact thats been very difficult for him to admit. But he says here no collusion. And he has ever right to continue make his legal defense. The big difference, brian, between no collusion and no
meddling is no collusion is up for debate, and we will see where the facts lead because its under probe. No meddling was one of the most concerning statements we have had a parade of National Security experts and the president s own appointees reput that. So the system is working because the facts are being pushed out there by the indictment, by the evidence an now the president having to close that circle. So thats striking. Heres the president walking down the steps of a marine corps aircraft and this is the usual handoff that takes place. He is walking with an air force escort because hes now in the hands of a Different Branch of the service and that is the u. S. Air force. We will turn and go up the steps to Air Force One. Theres a small press corps out at andrews, questions cannot be heard over the jet noise. President very rarely comes over to a rope line in this situation. Preferring instead on this wet
and rainy day to go up the stairs, into Air Force One for the flight to florida. Joe winebanks, same question to you. I was struck exactly by what ari said, which was this is the first admission by the president that the russians did meddle. But i also want to go back to something that ben said, which was about the collusion, and there are two different collusions, theres the hacking of the dnc emails and then theres what we had an indictment on today. And the second that we could have paper ballots, i want to remind us that that led to Hanging Chads and to a contested election. So im not sure going back to Hanging Chads is the answer. But i think that we now have evidence of collusion on two different fronts because i think there has been, if we look at what the president has done in terms of the emails, which is
not the subject today, but look what he did . Go ahead and get her missing emails, go ahead and get hillarys missing emails, he told wiwikileaks, go ahead and publish it. So were seeing that form of collusion and what americans have to do to protect ourselveses and all of us who are new to social media, need to watch the sources that we are listening to on social media. Among the bags that we just saw loaded on to the plane, the proof is that the president is for all of the marbles, the transfer of Nuclear Football when the helicopter lands prior to the helicopter taking off, the air stairs will now be rolled away and Air Force One will be on its way. The Staff Helicopter has arrived. You just saw chief of staff john kelly, theres the all clear from the ground controller, they are ordering the stairs back. Everything is done with this kind of precision and pageantry every time our president goes anywhere. Back to the story at hand, as the front door is closed and the aircraft gets ready to taxi. Ken delaney, our intelligence and National Security reporter has been doing nothing but reading and rereading this document. Ken, what should we know about that you have been able to see and tease out of this . Well, i will get to that in a second, brian, i just wanted to make one point about the president s reaction to all of there, we have been talking about the political reaction, but also theres the geopolitical reaction. This is a covert action by the russian government to the United States. They didnt link it to the russian government because they didnt want to go into court and try to prove that. But this was a russian intelligence operation, with budget of a Million Dollars a month. They did things like hire actors for rallierallies, in addition
social media stuff we have known about for some time. Normally you would expect the president of the United States have something to say about that, how is the country responding . What should we do with our adversary russia that has attacked us in this manner. Were sort of remarking on the fact is that hes finally now acknowledged clearly that there was some russian meddling. But no answer to the question of how will the u. S. Government respond . We know from intelligence officials on the hill last week, that the russians are continuing to attack our democracy, what are we doing to respond to that . We have no answer. Ken, underscore that point you just made, most americans are going to feel that we have been played, and most americans are going to have some sense of embarrassment, mixed with anger, that we were clearly played, this is all it took to get us to look elsewhere, to get us to think things we now know are false. The russians took advantage of the extreme partisan divisions in this country and
our elaborate Social Media Structures to play us. We have known for a long time about the Social Media Manipulation and we have known about the hacking of the dnc, which is not described in this indictment. We did not know that russians were actually coming to the United States under false identitie identities, gathering intelligence, interacting with americans, and we didnt know that they were using social media to set up rallies in swing states, in new york, in florida, in north carolina. In one case, the indictment talked about wiring money to build a cage, so an actor portraying Hillary Clinton in a Prison Uniform could appear. This is like something out of a drama of the Americas Rveg Amer russian government paid for it right under our noses, a highly sophisticated int