President Trump’s lawyer, John Dowd, told The Daily Beast on Friday that he and his client were pleased with the news that Special Counsel Robert Mueller had brought indictments against 13 Russian nationals accused with interfering in the 2016 election. The criminal complaint, Dowd said, “speaks for itself,” adding that, “I think the special counsel found the culprits. I think he did a good job. I think he did a hell of a job.” A senior White House official made a similar assessment: “I think the president's gonna embrace it and say, this is a good job.” Though the indictments illustrate a robust, predominantly social-media-driven effort to sway the 2016 election towards Trump, they did not claim that the Trump campaign was aware of the efforts. That issue remains an open question. The indictment did, however, say that some defendants, who posed as U.S. persons without revealing their true identities, “communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump Campaign.” Dowd said he was confident the president would be pleased with the news. “I’m sure he is happy,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of faith in Bob Mueller and his team and it makes you feel good when they do a good job. They got these bastards who tried to hurt the country.” —Betsy Woodruff
