Why it Matters

While the majority of these indictments do specifically relate to events that happened pre-Trump, it is nonetheless important that two alleged foreign agents of Ukraine did have a favorable impact on the campaign of a now-elected president. The indictment document itself also reads, “Between at least 2006 and 2015,” which contradicts the notion that this was, as President Trump puts it, “years ago.”

These indictments prove that there is significant enough evidence of interaction between members of the Trump campaign and foreign governments (Russia and Ukraine) to warrant multiple arrests. This dismisses the widely publicized notion that there was no Russian intervention, as the indictments do detail cooperation between Manafort/Gates and foreign parties.