Who Will Arrest the Russians?

For John, BLUF:  It would be nice if we could let the President be President.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Why Mueller Indicting 12 Russians is Meaningless Theatre

Here is the sub-headline:

Does anybody seriously think Vladimir Putin will ship a dozen of his intelligence service's top digital spies to America to face trial?

From , by Mr Mark Tapscott, 14 July 2018.

Here is the lede plus four:

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein made a huge splash Friday by announcing that special counsel Robert Mueller has issued an indictment of 12 Russian military intelligence operatives for hacking the computer systems of two top Democratic campaign committees.

What Rosenstein didn’t say in making that announcement suggests the indictment was made public as a public relations play intended to manipulate voters rather than a public information service provided to help American citizens understand what their government is doing.

One word Rosenstein did utter during his news conference tells the story — “apprehension.” As when the deputy attorney general who appointed Mueller said: “The special counsel’s investigation is ongoing and there will be no comments by the special counsel at this time … we intend to transition responsibility for this indictment to the Justice Department’s National Security Division (NSD) while we await the apprehension of the defendants.”

Congressional Democrats quickly seized on the indictment to demand that President Donald Trump either cancel his meeting Monday in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin or challenge Putin to agree to extradite the indicted intelligence officers.

And that’s why Rosenstein’s Friday news conference was meaningless except as attempted manipulation of public perception of the special counsel investigation of allegations aides to Trump’s 2016 campaign colluded with Russian interests.

I don't think I agree with Mr Tapscott.  If the machinery of government is functioning properly then this announcement, and its timing, are part of Government's overall foreign policy.  After all, Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein met with President Trump before the President departed for Europe and briefed him on this issue.

Over at the PopeHat, "VeryStableHat" tweeted out in response to Mr Julian Sanchez, who latched onto the coincidence of Candidate Trump asking President Putin for Candidate Clinton's EMails the same day Russia tried to hack into the DNC.

Mr Sanchez thinks that this indictment from the Special Prosecutor is just the further closing of the ring around a "traitorous" President Trump.

One wag responded with this tweet:

I'm confused.  Do the adults all get that Mr Trump was joking, or is it that Mr Mueller is on to something but can't bring it to a conclusion in 18 months.  In France in 1945 (Happy Bastille Day) they did Petain in 3 or 4 months.

And, the person is exactly correct.  Either Mr Rosenstein was working with the President to further US policy or he is a clueless and disruptive patriot, who should, with a sense of honor, resign.  As for Special Council Mueller, either he is holding the answers close to his chest, while he runs up his coup count or he is incompetent.  If, and I emphasize "if", Mr Mueller believes President Trump is a traitor—and that would be the word for it—then everything else is rubbish and should be ignored, so that Mr Mueller can deliver the goods to the House of Representatives as quickly as possible.  But, it isn't happening.  So, one can only conclude that President Trump is innocent of all these fabricated charges or Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein needs to replace Mr Mueller immediately.♠

Hat tip to the InstaPundit.

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  The third option is that Mr Mueller is in President Trump's pocket.