Hello again on this podcast an all too familiar theme.

American democracy and the rule of law are under assault as never before.

That's according to the FBI, the CIA, and the National Security Agency.

Intelligence they've gathered for several years has led special prosecutor Robert Mueller to indict 13 Russian nationals and three Russian

groups for interfering in last year's election. Here's H.R. McMaster. He is President Trump's

National Security Advisor. And as you can see with the FBI indictment, the evidence is now

really incontrovertible and available in the public domain.

But President Trump still calls Mueller's effort a witch hunt, and he's been critical of all three

intelligence agencies.

On today's podcast, we'll look at what's at stake not just for the U.S. but for other

democracies around the world.

First, the indictment.

Tim Weiner was a Pulitzer Prize winner for the New York Times.

His books include Enemies, the History of the FBI, and Legacy of Ashes, the history of the CIA.

Thanks for joining us again.

Hello, Warren.

Tell us about this indictment, which you have read cover-to-cover in a very intensive way. What do you think

it leads to? Well, what Mueller has done is to lay the groundwork for a continuing criminal

investigation of Team Trump. He's done this by indicting the Internet Research Agency, the Russian unregistered political action committee,

on a charge of conspiracy to defraud the United States. He has also indicted Paul Manafort,

the Trump campaign chairman from two years ago, on exactly the same charge.

If he establishes to the court's satisfaction that that conspiracy existed, then attempts to

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