I will update with additional information shortly.
UPDATE: Some thoughts.
1. Here is the actual indictment.
2. Rosenstein made clear that there was no allegation in the indictment that Americans conspired with the Russian intelligence officers, nor that any vote totals were affected as a result of the cyberattacks.
Note the careful language there: Many folks' takeaway will be that no Americans did conspire, and that no vote totals were affected, but that is not what Rosenstein said. He said only that the indictment alleges neither of those things.
I'm angry that Rosenstein went to such great lengths to imply that there was no vote tampering, while not actually saying that (because he can't). That's certainly the impression with which most people will be left, though, despite the fact that, in some states, like Georgia, the election data has been destroyed, so we'll never know if the vote totals were altered by hacking.
3. Rosenstein was also very determined to avoid saying to which candidate's benefit the Russian agents interfered.
4. AND YET:
From the indictment:
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) July 13, 2018
"The conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, wrote to a person who was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump" pic.twitter.com/Qs8yLZyQaU
That person is almost certainly Roger Stone, who has yet to be indicted.
5. The timing of this presser, seemingly designed to maximize the general public's ignorance or indifference to its contents, combined with Rosenstein's mendacious spin and commentary explicitly reassuring to Trump and his allies, is deeply troubling to me.
All of this is absurd theater, frankly, given that the collusion has been and continues to be right out in the open. Trump is fixing to meet with Putin *in private, with no record of the conversation* in days, after trying to blow up NATO. There is no mystery here.
— Melissa McEwan (@Shakestweetz) July 13, 2018
All of this convinces me even further that the objective of Bob Mueller's investigation is no longer (if it ever was) to deliver meaningful accountability to a treasonous president and his accomplices, but instead to create the illusion that our institutions still work, long enough to give Republicans time to consolidate power behind this presidency, ensuring that the findings will never matter, anyway.
I hope I am wrong and fear that I'm not.
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