No, Andrea Mitchell; Mueller’s Indictment of Russians Didn’t Prove a Trump-Russia ‘Nexus’

As Andrea Mitchell covered Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s new indictments against Russia today, she suggested it was proof of a solid connection between President Donald Trump‘s campaign and Russia.

The MSNBC host noted that according to the indictment, Russian hacking efforts started the month before Trump held a press conference in which he invited Russians to dig through Hillary Clinton‘s emails.

“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said July 27, 2016. That same day, per the indictment, Russians targeted email servers used by Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

“Clearly there is a nexus between what was happening that summer and the comments of the president,” Mitchell proclaimed.

This is not clear at all. The confirmation of Russia’s phishing operation is undoubtedly worth noting with regard to Trump’s past statement, and the timing is stunning, and suspicious. However, Mitchell is overstating things by describing what has not be proven to be anything more than coincidence as a “nexus.”

Rosenstein told reporters that Russians did coordinate with Americans, but said there was “no allegation in this indictment that the Americans knew they were corresponding with Russian intelligence officers.” He also said there was “no allegation” that any American citizen committed a crime, nor any allegation that Russian intelligence officials affected the 2016 election results.

“I think it was a bit irresponsible for Andrea Mitchel to make such a leap,” Law & Crime editor-in-chief Rachel Stockman tells Mediaite. “There is nothing contained in the 29 page indictment, or based upon what Rosenstein said during the press conference, that indicated that there was a clear ‘nexus’ between the hacking and the comments of the president.”

To put it simply: Trump calling for Russians to find Clinton’s emails is suspicious. The timing of his remarks is also suspicious. That the DOJ is now accusing Russian intelligence officers of hacking the Clinton campaign that very same day, is also suspicious and hugely significant.

And yet, a definitive “nexus” or connection between those two still hasn’t been established, and its reckless for an NBC News anchor like Mitchell to suggest otherwise.

Watch above, via MSNBC.

[Image via screengrab]

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