Good Saturday morning ...
Good Saturday morning ...
Robert Mueller's meaty indictment, accusing 13 Russians (including an oligarch known as "Putin's cook") of "information warfare against the United States of America," shows the special counsel has been doing deep, serious investigative work — totally under the radar, and with zero leaks.
A powerful thought bubble from Axios' Jonathan Swan:
Why it matters:
How it's playing ... Lead story of WashPost homepage: "Justice Dept. deals fatal blow to Trump’s Russia ‘hoax.'"
Tech was a big loser in Mueller's stunning narrative, which showed how easily the big platforms were gamed. Instagram, owned by Facebook, was a key tool:
An illuminating take on the indictment came from Michael McFaul of Stanford, who was ambassador to Russia under President Obama, talking to Nicolle Wallace from Munich on MSNBC:
[S]tarting in or around June 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators, posing online as U.S. persons, communicated with a real U.S. person affiliated with a Texas-based grassroots organization. During the exchange, Defendants and their co-conspirators learned from the real U.S. person that they should focus their activities on 'purple states like Colorado, Virginia & Florida.' After that exchange, Defendants and their co-conspirators commonly referred to targeting 'purple states' in directing their efforts.— From Mueller's Russian indictment
Think this'll give President Trump an idea for a tweet? I do.
The Russian "information warfare" operation aimed at the U.S. ahead of the 2016 election had a Graphics Dept., a Data Analysis Dept., search-engine optimization, an IT Dept. — and a budget of millions of dollars. From Mueller's indictment:
FBI fumbled tip:
From the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel:
When I got home from working out at Solidcore yesterday morning, this was AP's dashboard ...
"What the Point72 Lawsuit Says About Wall Street: Steve Cohen’s firm is part of an industry in which swagger and jerkdom are conflated with trading aggression" — Barron's "Streetwise" column, by Mary Childs (subscription):
"A Literary Road Trip Into the Heart of Russia: In the land of Tolstoy, Turgenev and now Putin, what are the stories Russians are telling themselves?" Tomorrow's N.Y. Times Magazine cover:
About the cover ... N.Y. Times Magazine editor Jake Silverstein:
USA's Nathan Chen comes back, stuns crowd ... "[T]he 18-year-old quad king hit an unprecedented six of the four-revolution jumps [today] to win the free skate and soar into fifth place." (Video)
P.S. "Lindsey Vonn gets Twitter backlash after sixth-place finish in super-G":
Thanks for reading. We'll have constant updates all holiday weekend on Axios.com ...