The entire america spectrum. But did he go too far . Ill talk to one of the victims. Thats a first. Thats the first time ive ever signed a water but first, with regard to the 12 russian officers indicted for interfering in the 2016 election, i want to challenge one part of the conventional wisdom. Namely that the timing poses an awkward tdiplomatic disaster fo the president. To the contrary, it may have done him a naifr. That is, if hes willing to seize it. Think this through with me. The announcement came yesterday just three days before President Trump sits down in helsinki with russian president Vladimir Putin. To be sure the anticipation of the friday midday press conference by deputy ag rod rosen tine presented an unusual juxtaposition. On Television Screens the rosenstein presser was about to compete for attention with the president s formal arrival for a meeting with queen elizabeth. But tvs technical directors were spared. Rosenstein was curiously 30 minutes late to the announced start time of his announcement. Giving the president the time needed to complete his review of queens guard at windsor castle. Thats not all that seemed cover yo graphed. Rosenstein then relieved hed briefed the president in the days prior on the indictments. I briefed President Trump about the allegations earlier this week. The president is fully aware of the departments actions today. So that means that for the last few days during which time he continued to call the Mueller Probe a witch hunt the president knew that proof to the contrary was coming. Eve an few hours before rosen signs announcement at a joint press conference with theresa may, trump said that while he would raise the issue of russian meddling with putin, he cautioned that he didnt expect a perry mason moment to result. I dont think youll have any gee i did it, i did it, you got me. Rosenstein then spelled out his findings in an unusually specific 29page 11count indictment of 12 Russian Military officers. Immediately thereafter the deputy ag eas revelations call for some to call for the cancellation of the summit. One said glad handing with Vladimir Putin could be an insult to our democracy. Kans ration is not going to happen but maybe confrontation will. While the president has been loathed to hold putin accountable for russian meddling, hes just been handed the goods with which to do so and it will be embarrassing for him not to. In other words, rosenstein just gave trump the basis for a reset. In fact, you have to wonder if it was planned this way. I dont believe in coincidence. Are we really to assume that this indictment just happened to come on the last business day before trump meets with putin . No way. This was deliberately timed. At least by rosenstein to send putin a message right before the summit and in advance of the american midterm elections. Whether President Trump was part of that deliberation we may never know. Surely when rosenstein briefed him earlier in the week trump could have at least requested the announcement be delayed until after the summit. But we will learn on monday whether President Trump is finally prepared to stop the charade of crying witch hunt and use the tools that mueller and rosenstein just handed him, to be americas advocate. Maybe hell even demand the extradition of those just indicted for meddling in our election. One can hope. And that brings me to todays survey question at smerconish. Com. Will President Trump confront Vladimir Putin with the recent indictments . Vote yes or no and ill give you the result at the end of this hour. So whats the take away from the new special counsel indictment against a dozen russian intel officials and what more might be coming down the road . The new charges include conspiracy, hacking the Democratic National committee, the clinton president ial campaign and the Democratic Congressional campaign committee. As well as money launders and attempts to break into state election board and other government agencies. Theres also what it doesnt say as rosenstein also made sure to point out. Theres no allegation in this indictment that any american citizen committed a crime. Theres no allegation that the conspiracy changed the vote count or affected election result. R roger stones attorney cite third down as proof of innocence. Joining me now the perfect guest to break it down, Michael Isikoff coauthor with david corn of russian roulette. Michael, lets drill down on roger stone for a moment. Paragraph 44 of the indictment had this language. Well put it on the screen. Ill read a sentence. On or about august 15, 2016, the conspirators wrote to a person who was in regular contact with senior members of the president ial campaign of donald j. Trump. Thank you for writing back. Do you find anything interesting in the docs i posted . Initially stone hesitated before saying that it was him. Last night he was with chris cuomo on cuomo prime time, and he said this. I have testified under oath to the House Intelligence Committee that i certainly had a 24word exchange with the persona guccifer 2. 0. Any objective person who will read that exchange which is included in the indictment will see based on content context and timing, its benign. Its innocuous. Its also you, though. I think i probably am the person referred to. Michael isikoff, whats the meaning of all that . Well, its pretty clear that roger stone is in Robert Muellers sights. He and his mueller and his prosecutors and agents have been asking a lot of questions about stone from various associates of his. There are still questions about the some of stones comments during that period in which he seemed to anticipate the release of documents from wikileaks. We now know and this is i felt one of the more significant revelations in the indictment yesterday, that it was that very same guccifer 2. 0 a Russian Military intelligence persona who provided the documents to wikileaks. That was one of the enduring mysteries about this whole story for the last two years. How did wikileaks get the documents that they dumped on the eve of the Democratic Convention that had been hacked by russian intelligence . We now know it was from wikileaks, wikileaks it was from guccifer 2. 0. Wikileaks solicited those documents, and there are Text Messages or email messages that are reduced in the documents, in the indictment from wikileaks to guccifer 2. 0. At the same time stone is in communication with the Russian Military intelligence persona, that guccifer 2. 0 is providing the documents to wikileaks. I think that raises further questions about stones comments during that period that he knew about the coming release by wikileaks, especially in that early october time period on the podesta emails. In response to the revelations yesterday, rudy giuliani, the president s counsel in this context, issued a tweet proclimbaimed victories sorts. The indictments rosenstein announced are good news for all americans. The russians are nailed. No americans involved. Time to end the pursuit of the president and say President Trump is completely innocent. Seemingly premature . Yes. Rod rosenstein also said the investigation by mueller is ongoing. And mueller does have a habit of doing things in rapid succession. Weve seen when he acts, he tends to follow up. We may well be seeing more from mueller in the coming weeks. We dont know. Certainly theres the trial of Paul Manafort coming up. Theres a lot of anticipation about whether were going to be finally seeing a report or mueller will be submitting his report on obstruction. So this could well be the opening act in what becomes a very busy summer. Michael, i want to show you the president as a candidate july 27th of 2016, and then i want to make a comment. Roll that footage. Ly tell you this. Russia, if youre listening, i hope youre able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press. According to the indictment that date was of great significance. What happened . What began on that day . Quewell, as is laid out in t indictment, that very night the Russian Military intelligence hackers began penetrating a server that was used, that clintons own personal office used. They also targeted yet more members of the personal emails of yet more members of the Clinton Campaign so that certainly the indictment certainly raises the question of whether theres some connection there. I think we do have to be a little caution on this. Its clear the russians were targeting Clinton Campaign initials as early as march of the year. Thats when they got access to the podesta emails. So this may be coincidence or not. It certainly establishes a foundation for mueller to ask President Trump about what he may have known about this if President Trump submits for an interview which, of course, he has been resisting for quite some time. I mean, to your point, this was a very sophisticated, expensive, time consuming labor intensive process that the switch could not just have been thrown. They were ready to go. Yeah. And look, more importantly, and i think this is something that is especially significant on the eve of this summit. These gru guys werent operating on their own. They just didnt decide they were going to mount this Extensive Campaign to hack Democratic Political parties in the Clinton Campaign and then dump the emails, and lets remember the u. S. Intelligence community in its january, 2017 report said all of this was ordered by president Vladimir Putin himself. And good point. If you read the indictment closely. His name wasnt in the indictment. I thought that was odd. His name isnt in the indictment, but it does say when you read the fine print these 12 gru officers and others known and unknown to the grand jury. So who are those others known to the grand jury . It does raise the question of whether Vladimir Putin himself is an unindicted coconspirator in these charges. Great observation. Michael isikoff, thank you as always. Appreciate it. Thank you. What are your thoughts . Tweet me at smerconish. Go to my Facebook Page. Ill read responses throughout the course of the program. Will you hold obama accountable . You say you are fair. We will see. I mean, all this meddling happened under obama and no one cares. This is why the American People get so frustrated with the media. This is why trump will win again in the midterm, and you know what . The president tweeted today on exactly that point. That was his initial response. Heres what im looking for. Instead of this going on between liberals and skeconservatives, republicans and democrats, what happened to when we were united against a common enemy . This was terrorism. We were the victims of a Terror Strike. And will the commander in chief on monday hold accountable the presumed perpetrator of that Terror Strike . Stop all the liberal conservative red state blue state stuff . Our partisan differences used to end at the waters edge. Now, lets get back to those times. Sorry. I lost my place. Give me the part that says whats coming up. Oh. Thank you. Go vote at smerconish. Com and tell me whether you think the president is going to con front Vladimir Putin with the recent indictments and at the end of this hour, i will give you the result. Now were back on track. Still to come, what might happen monday when trump meets putin without advisers . Ill ask a former state department expert on the region. And oh, yeah, there was a Supreme Court nomination this week with a contentious confirmation process ahead. What will we be able to learn about Brett Kavanaughs views . And plus, why is dick cheney smiling . Because he just autographed a waterboard for a man he didnt realize was sasha barren cohen. You shouldnt be rushed into booking a hotel. With expedias addon advantage, booking a flight unlocks discounts on select hotels until the day you leave for your trip. Addon advantage. Only when you book with expedia. The chili pepper sweatout. Not cool. Freezing away fat cells with coolsculpting . 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Then rosenstein announced of indictment of a dozen russian internationals. Joining me now is a senior fellow in the vok love hovel program at Florida International university. Hes also the author of back to containment dealing with putins regime. David, thank you so much for being here. React to the timing issue. I find it so curious that this came on the friday before the monday summit. Well, it certainly is a coincidence at least. I know in your opening you suggested it may be more than that. It will make the situation for President Trump a little more difficult by forcing him to raise this, i hope. Although President Trump as you indicated knew about this. Rosenstein indicated he briefed the president on this before he left for his european trip, and yet the president was rather dismissive yesterday of the whole investigation. He said hell ask putin about it and get an answer he didnt expect a perry mason moment. I hope the president is more forceful than that. This should be viewed as an attack by russia and Vladimir Putin on the United States on its electoral system and democracy. It shouldnt be viewed in partisan terms. The president should be angry and pushing back and should make clear the United States is going to do something about it and not just sit back and ask questions. If you were in your old role and whispering in the ear of this president , would you not say to him, mr. President , demand the extradition of the 12 who were just indicted . Its hard to do that because as you know there is no extradition treaty between russia and the United States, but i think the president should make clear that we plan to pursue justice in this case. Hold those accountable for the hacking and for other trolling activities where russia tries so sew further divisions in this country and tries to tap into sensitive political issues whether its charlottesville or the shooting by Police Officers of blacks and other kinds of issues, the nfl protests. This is still going on, and the russians are gearing up to do this in our midterm elections. Theyre gearing up to do in the 2020 elections and the president needs to make clear to putin theres a cost to be paid for russia including, for example, exposing the wealth of various russian officials including the russian president , and see how the russian public reacts to those kinds of exposures. You have written on a very interesting dynamic, and that is that the president is an outlier in his own administration. Meaning that youve got pompeo and nikki haley and mike pence and general mattis who have all been, you correct me, but theyve all been very tough in the things theyve said and done relative to russia. But not him. Thats exactly right. And it isnt just rhetoric coming out of the officials you named. Weve seen the administration approve lethal military assistance to ukraine which the Obama Administration didnt do. President obama refused to provide that assistance. Weve seen stepped up, not a huge increase but a stepped up advance on sanctions of various russian individuals. Weve seen an increase presence of u. S. Military closer to russias borders in the Baltic States and poland. Weve seen positive reactions and actions on the part of the United States as well as the rhetoric that you describe from various senior officials. The outlier as you put it is the president who continues to talk about wanting to have a Good Relationship with russia and mr. Putin. I think what the president does is he asks the wrong question. When he says wouldnt it be great if russia and the United States gets along. The answer is obvious. Of cou