WASHINGTON (AP) — Awkward timing.
The Justice Department announced new indictments in the Russia probe Friday just as President Donald Trump was meeting Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle.
Most cable news networks broke away from coverage of the royal pageantry to carry Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein’s announcement of indictments against 12 Russian intelligence officers for interfering in the U.S. election.
The indictments come just days before the president is scheduled to hold a summit with Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.
Rosenstein said: “The timing is a function of the collection of the facts, the evidence, the law and a determination that it was sufficient to present the indictment at this time.”
He said he briefed the president earlier this week about the indictments, but declined to describe Trump’s reaction.
