The indictment of 13 Russian nationals released Friday tells us that the Kremlin’s effort to interfere with and influence the 2016 U.S. election was launched in Russia by early 2014. The Trump administration has seized upon that timeline as proof that it had no involvement in or knowledge of the Russia intervention.
For example, in the first sentence of its response to the indictment, the Trump White House notes that the Russian effort “had begun in 2014, before the president declared his candidacy.” Sean Hannity, President Trump’s most ardent defender, has picked up the argument as well, pointing out that “Robert Mueller’s indictment (show) the foreign nationals began meddling in US politics one year before Donald Trump announced his run for office.”
Trump himself took to Twitter to stress the point:
While the talking point falls short of compelling, it does make a degree of sense. As Trump notes, how could the Russians have launched a campaign intended to help Trump win the presidency before they even knew that Trump would be running? Trump wouldn’t announce his bid until June 2015, more than a year later. The timing just doesn’t mesh.
But then there’s this:
Note the date: Jan. 22, 2014.
Note the source: Yulya Alferova, who describes herself as “advisor to the Minister of Economic Development of the Russian Federation.” Judging from her English-language Twitter feed, she is also a huge Trump fan.
Finally, note the content of the tweet: In January 2014, around the time the Russians were launching their effort to meddle in the U.S. elections that were still more than two years away, Alferova already had accurate information that Trump would be running for president and had already pledged her support.
Where would she get that kind of information? My guess would be the guy posing with her in the picture, because he would know. The photo is one of several taken in November 2013 as Alferova worked with Trump, Russian billionaire Aras Agalarov and his son Emin on the Miss Universe pageant in Moscow.
Now, none of this proves collusion. However, it does tell us that in late 2013 and early 2014, Russian nationals who had worked with Trump in Moscow were already quite aware of Trump’s plans to run for president, even if most Americans were not. It was not a closely held secret, and if people such as Alferova knew it, then Russian intelligence surely did as well.
Furthermore, when the White House tries to claim that collusion couldn’t have occurred because the timeline of Trump’s campaign and the timeline of Russian meddling do not mesh ... well, to the degree it matters, they actually mesh quite closely.
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