WASHINGTON, D.C. Feb 20 (DPI) – Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 election netted indictments Friday against 13 Russian nationals, a detailed case that doesn’t implicate Trump or his people in the shockingly elaborate scheme, but is likely to keep the president fighting calls for impeachment for months to come.

Trump has pointedly refused to confront or criticize the Kremlin or Putin directly for the election interference, which employed scores of operatives on the ground in the US, along with a program to post divisive content to social media.

For months now Americans have debated the degree of influence that the Russian meddling had on the election, whether it really swayed the outcome, or if the Russian meddling, like many shady developments in US politics, was simply a meaningless straw man for partisan warfare. It seems now, with the release of Mueller’s report, that rumors of Russian meddling in the election were not overstated.

A column yesterday by Thomas Friedman cogently outlined all the political smoke around Donald Trump – the president, Friedman asserts, clearly has something to hide in his relationship with the Russians.

More than 2,700 reader comments that followed Friedman’s column reflected an intensifying and broadly held view – even among independents and some Republicans – that the latest indictments were a turning point for this president, who historians already are calling the worst in US history.

Among the most popular comments:

Tom, you wrote: “President Trump is either totally compromised by the Russians or is a towering fool, or both, but either way he has shown himself unwilling or unable to defend America against a Russian campaign to divide and undermine our democracy.”
and…
“It is so obvious what Trump is up to: Again, he is either a total sucker for Putin or, more likely, he is hiding something that he knows the Russians have on him, and he knows that the longer Mueller’s investigation goes on, the more likely he will be to find and expose it.”
Bullseye.  Brilliant job of summarizing what Trump is likely up to – and what his exposure likely is.

Trump supports Russia and Putin more than he supports America and the American people. Famous words from decades hold true today, “Follow the Money.” No America bank would have ever loaned Trump money after five bankruptcies. It had to be the Russians. Follow the Money and end this nightmare.

Yes. This goes so far beyond partisan politics. This is about a man who clearly cares only about himself and his family, though I really doubt if the family truly matters at all. He is a pathetic shell of a human being, Yet, somehow, he is protected and nurtured by the entire GOP Congress, a Greek chorus of politicians who are willing to sell us, and our nation, out for a few shekels. We are definitely at a crossroads. It is well past the time to invoke the 25th, but I doubt that even one Republican would have the guts to even suggest it….!

This past Friday evening, listening to a television news host, I was most surprised to feel my eyes well up with tears when I listened to the host say that finally, after all of this time, there is someone who is standing up for us: Robert Mueller III.