Three cheers for the Russian trolls, who meddled in the US election, for giving a huge boost to the reputation of the embattled FBI, which is Target No. 1 of our president.
One of the trolls listed in special counsel Robert Mueller’s 37-page indictment of Feb. 16, which charged 13 Russian nationals and three entities with meddling in the US presidential election, displayed far more respect for the FBI than our tweeter-in-chief.
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The indictment includes an apparent confession from Irina Viktorovna Kaverzina, who posted social media content designed to undermine trust in the US political system.
She sent this email to a family member: “We had a slight crisis here at work: the FBI busted our activity (not a joke). So I got preoccupied with covering tracks together with the colleagues.”
Contrast Kaverzina’s email to the actions of President Trump, who dismisses the FBI as the gang that couldn’t shoot straight and bashes the service for conducting a “witch hunt” probe into his possible collusion with the Russians.
The president even had the moxie to use the high school massacre in Parkland, FL., as a platform to take a cheap shot at the FBI.
He tweeted on Feb. 17, “Very sad that the FBI missed all of the many signals sent out by the Florida school shooter. This is not acceptable. They are spending too much time trying to prove Russian collusion with the Trump campaign - there is no collusion. Get back to the basics and make us all proud!”
The Economist magazine notes that Kaverzina, “an alleged foot-soldier in Russia’s information war against America,” regarded being “busted” by the FBI as a crisis. She recognized the FBI's investigative prowess.
No so, Donald. Our president is willing to take Vladimir Putin’s word that Russia had nothing to do with meddling in the US election over the combined testimony of the heads of US intelligence agencies. Trump belittled those spymasters as political hacks.
Mueller’s indictment makes it plain that the Internet Research Agency, which coordinated the election meddling, was all in for Trump. It’s a slam dunk.
The Economist believes the indictment makes it harder for Trump to fire Mueller.
Word to The Economist: don’t underestimate the audacity of the US president, especially when he is being squeezed.
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