Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein on special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe: “We are seeing evidence of a conspiracy. Who was witting, unwitting in that conspiracy, we don’t know yet. But Mueller's indictments are pointing in a certain direction" https://t.co/o6E0seNwj9 pic.twitter.com/nSYNHiWkmO
— CNN (@CNN) February 16, 2018
Legendary Watergate reporter Carl Bernstein said Friday that the latest developments in the Russia election meddling investigation indicate “evidence of a conspiracy.”
Bernstein made the comments on CNN just hours after the Justice Department announced the indictments of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian groups on multiple charges related to their alleged interference in the 2016 election.
“We are seeing evidence of a conspiracy,” Bernstein said. “Who was witting, unwitting in that conspiracy, we don’t know yet. But Mueller’s indictments are pointing in a certain direction around people in the Trump orbit and family.”
Special counsel Robert Mueller is reportedly still looking into whether President Trump’s campaign conspired with Moscow to help him win the election.
{mosads}Friday’s indictments allege that Russian actors adopted U.S. personas and communicated with U.S. people to “sow discord” and promote Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders’s campaigns while disparaging Hillary Clinton’s. The various charges include identity theft, bank fraud and criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said at a press briefing that the eight-count indictment does not allege that anyone in the U.S. knew about the conspiracy efforts, and that there is nothing conclusive to demonstrate that the Russians’ efforts altered the outcome of the election.
President Trump responded to the indictments in a tweet, saying that the new round of indictments show “the Trump campaign did nothing wrong – no collusion!”
“Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President,” he tweeted. “The results of the election were not impacted.”
Trump has repeatedly maintained that his campaign did not collude with the Kremlin.
Bernstein expressed ambivalence about Trump’s insistence of “no collusion,” saying that he thinks Mueller is a “straight shooter” who will be “upfront” if he finds conclusive evidence that the Trump campaign did not knowingly coordinate its efforts with Moscow.