The Mueller Indictment
The Briefing Room
BBC
4.8 • 731 Ratings
🗓️ 22 February 2018
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Robert Mueller, the Special Counsel appointed to investigate possible Russian links to the Trump campaign in 2016, last week issued formal charges against three companies and thirteen named individuals. They are all Russian.
The 37-page indictment provides a wealth of detail on the scale and ambition of the operation, in which ordinary Americans were manipulated into not only promoting their messages online but even organising political rallies.
President Trump responded to the indictment by repeating his assertion that he had never colluded with the Russians.
It's not clear that those indicted will ever appear in an American courtroom, but if the allegations are true, they represent unprecedented interference in the American political system and raise questions about future vulnerability.
CONTRIBUTORS
Gordon Corera, BBC security correspondent
Molly McKew, expert in information warfare specialising in US-Russia relations, New Media Frontier
Andrei Soshnikov, BBC Moscow
Asha Rangappa, senior lecturer at the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, Yale University and former FBI special agent, counterintelligence division.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:03.7 | Welcome to the briefing room with me, David Oronovich. |
| 0:06.8 | You step inside and you and I get briefed together on the big issues by people who know what they're talking about. |
| 0:13.1 | And please let us know what you think by writing a review or rating us on iTunes or your podcast provider. |
| 0:18.8 | Thanks to those of you who you recently reviewed us, including |
| 0:21.2 | Young Patsy and Robert J.W.12. This week, we're delving into the detail of the Mueller indictment, |
| 0:29.2 | the 37-page document issued by the US Department of Justice, which accuses 13 named Russians |
| 0:35.8 | of interfering with the presidential election in 2016. |
| 0:40.0 | If you enjoy this, you might want to listen back to other editions of the briefing room. |
| 0:43.8 | Just type BBC briefing room into your favourite search engine, |
| 0:47.2 | and last week we looked at the jihadis returning from Syria. |
| 0:50.8 | Anyway, for now, take your seat in the briefing room. |
| 1:14.4 | The Russia story is a total fabrication. It's just an excuse for the greatest loss in the history of American politics. |
| 1:15.4 | That's all it is. |
| 1:20.7 | Donald Trump last August on the Russian interference question, |
| 1:28.3 | which, despite such defiance, has sprung to new life in the shape of an indictment of 13 named individuals. |
| 1:33.2 | They are accused of being part of a grand conspiracy to defraud the United States for the purpose, |
| 1:37.9 | and I quote, of interfering with the US political and electoral processes, |
| 1:41.4 | including the presidential election of 2016. |
| 1:45.6 | The indictment is the work of the special council Robert Mueller. |
| 1:52.2 | So what's in it? Why has it been issued now? And what does it portend? Step into the briefing room to find out. |
| 1:59.5 | First, the document itself. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.