BRIAN STELTER (HOST) Rod Rosenstein said something really important on Friday, but it was kind of overlooked amid the shocking indictments of 12 Russian intel officers. Listen to this.
ROD ROSENSTEIN (UNITED STATES DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL): The partisan warfare fueled by modern technology does not fairly reflect the grace. dignity, and unity of the American people.
STELTER: I couldn't have said it better myself. Rosenstein also said Americans need to work together to hold the attackers accountable and he's right about that too. But there are too many Sean Hannitys out there. Too many bloviators telling tall tales that distort the truth and deflect attention. And this starts at the very top. When the DNC was hacked in 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump claimed the Dems did it to themselves, quote, “we believe it was the DNC they did the hacking to distract from their problems,” quote, “too bad the DNC doesn't hack Hillary Clinton's 33,000 missing emails.” So Trump did what he oftentimes does; he immediately went to the conspiracy theory route. Then a couple months later, he urged the Russians to hack the Clinton campaign, and according to the new indictments, that's exactly what [Vladimir] Putin's hackers did. Now, this behavior of deflection and distraction, it has continued now that Trump is in office and it's egged on by his supporters like Hannity who want the [Special Counsel Robert] Mueller probe to be wiped away. Hannity is so blinded by his devotion for Trump that he wants the rest of us to be blindfolded too so that we never know the full extent of Russia's attack. Hey, Sean, if you're listening right now, please think about what Rosenstein said.
ROSENSTEIN: I want to caution you, the people who speculate about federal investigations usually do not know all of the relevant facts. We do not try cases on television or in congressional hearings.
STELTER: That is such an important warning -- a reminder for pundits and lawmakers. But I doubt it will be heeded. What do you think?
