Read Transcript EXPAND
KONSTANTIN KOSACHEV, RUSSIAN SENATOR: Well, frankly speaking, we are definitely not very much surprised by this conclusion for the simple reason, here in the Russian, we knew from the very beginning of that these allegations were completely unbased, they were false, there has not been any conspiracy in our relation with the Candidate Trump, this President Trump or anybody else in his team. So, for us, the conclusions of the special counsel is just the confirmation that both we here in Russia and President Trump and his team have been right all the time denying these accusations based completely on political reasons and interests, not the substance of the situation.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: As you know, and let me read this out for you, you know, this information, the report confirms was spread by Russia’s internet research agency during the 2016 election, 13 Russian nationals, 3 entities, including the IRA were indicted in February of last year, another 12 Russian nationals also tied to hacking were indicted last July and it also details the Russian government’s hacking of Democratic Party officials and members of Hillary Clinton’s campaign. So, that is still out there. Are you still celebrating the results of this Mueller report?
KOSACHEV: Number one, I have never described our emotions here as a kind of a celebration. We are far away from being happy with this situation at all in general and with this report either. And yes, we are definitely very much not in favor of the conclusions made on Russia and alleged meddling in the American elections. I’ve seen that the special counsel made 13 requests to foreign countries in order to know better what is going on, what was going on, none of these requests was addressed to Russia. We were not included at any stage in this investigation, we were not given any chance to react on these allegations to give our analysis, our interpretation of what was going on. So, we diffidently do not share the conclusions by the special attorney — by the special counsel, and this is not a fair approach.
AMANPOUR: There’s never been any doubt that President Trump has been very friendly to Russia and very friendly to President Putin. However, there are sanctions on Russia. Congress has imposed a whole number of restrictions and other measures against Russia for certain activities and actions. Do you believe that this result will reset relations?
About This Episode EXPAND
Russian Senator Konstantin Kosachev shares Moscow’s reaction to the Mueller investigation’s findings. Janet Napolitano on whether America’s 2020 elections will be secure. And Jonathan Weisman, author of “(((Semitism))): Being Jewish in the Age of Trump,” on the the partisan rift over US-Israel ties. Republican strategist Frank Luntz joins Walter Isaacson to discuss America’s toxic politics.
LEARN MORE