was there with his translator. was that translator excused? did he pass written notes to mr. putin and to the russian translator so that our translator would not see it? i don t know. but there s something that is very, very puzzling about this. i am concerned because i know how manipulative the russians are and mr. putin is. and as the special counsel s investigation continues to go forward, we are going to find out the facts, as bob mueller uncovers them, about whether or not there were individuals that were very close to mr. trump and in the campaign who were actively abetting and aiding the russian efforts to interfere in that election. why did july 27th, 2016, that press conference where he asked russia to hack into hillary clinton s e-mails, why did that raise so many red flags? because it was basically overt collusion, encouraging the russians to try to find her e-mails. and so we see, you know, collusion in plain sight.
wiretap and, again, this was used for russia s agenda to impact our election. now, you know, it has become pretty common to ask if this scandal is worse than watergate. in terms of size and duration, today, mueller s indictment says, yes, this wasn t some third-rate cyber burglary. this was a big, long-term operation from a nuclear-armed foreign adversary of the united states. so that s one way to answer the question. now, in terms of whether there was top american involvement, mueller s indictment does not answer that question of whether it was worse than watergate in that sense in today s filing. we know that scandal toppled the presidency not only because of the crimes committed, but obviously because of who knew about them. the president. today s indictment states that the russian e-mail hacking began the same day candidate donald trump asked for it with russian agents making their first attempt to access clinton s personal e-mails on july 27th, 2016.
now a charged criminal international conspiracy. and if mueller doesn t talk, some witnesses do. we were thinking back on this today, previously nbc news reported that witnesses were facing questions from mueller s investigators over what trump knew about hacked democratic e-mails before they went public and more seriously, whether he was involved in their, quote, strategic release. russia launched this cyber attack on the u.s. and that has gone largely unpunished by the trump administration. we know trump was dragged to sanctions for russia by congress. tonts tonight he skipping opportunity to to stand tall and tough on the world stage. and let s be clear about how big this is. tonight, we learned something no one knew in public yesterday, it does look like the russians were listening to trump s hacking request on july 27th, 2016. today we learned they are
charged with committing that requested crime that day. and so the questions that remain are significant, but far more narrow. was that a coincidence? some kind of overreaction to overheated candidate rhetoric? or was it a key step advancing an international criminal conspiracy unfolding in plain sight? i m joined now by carol lee, nbc s national political reporter who along with our colleague, katy tur, broke that exclusive story i just mentioned about those questions that witnesses were being asked by mueller investigators in february, which feels very pertinent tonight. carol, thank you for your reporting. thank you for joining us. thank you. when we look at that line of questioning, what does that tell you about how early mueller was reviewing this issue, and what it means in today s indictment? well, if you look at what we reported in february, we there were a number of things in that story, but two of them stick out pretty significantly now in light of this indictment. the
july 27th, 2016, president trump, then candidate-trump, went to the lectern and said, russia, if listening, please begin to hack into hillary clinton s e-mail servers, in the same they way hacked into the dnc. late that night, bob mueller says in the indictment, the grand jury returned for the first time the gru military intelligence officers who launched a spearfishing attack against hillary clinton s personal server. the connection there, between president trump s call for russian action against hillary clinton, and their response to that is, i think, the most important fact from friday s indictment. coincidence, that that would happen the day the president said that to and about the russians. if you re watching the overhead camera angle of this room where they re going to be having the press event, it would appear that members of the news media are relegated to the left side of the room. on the right, perhaps, are the chairs reserved for the two