Special Counsel Robert Mueller on Friday indicted 16 Russian individuals and entities for meddling in the 2016 elections.

According to various reports, the conspiracy began in 2014. The indictment states that the Russians posed as Americans from U.S. grassroots groups and had some contact with “unwitting individuals associated with the Trump Campaign.”

During a press conference, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said the Russians were simply promoting discord. In one case, they sponsored events on the same day that supported Trump AND opposed Trump.

Rosenstein added that there is “No allegation in the indictment that any American knowingly participated in the conspiracy” or that it impacted the result of the election.

Everything I heard from Rosenstein and everything I have read so far appears to completely exonerate President Trump from the Left’s absurd allegations of collusion with the Russians.

Democrats Fail “Dreamers”

After shutting down the government and demanding a fair deal for the so-called “Dreamers,” Senate Democrats got their chance this week. And they botched it.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised an open debate this week, but for days Democrats repeatedly objected to holding any votes, even though nearly 100 ideas could have been considered.

In the end, it came down to just four bills on various proposals, but none received the necessary 60 votes needed to pass.

Of course, the Left and its media allies are trying to make it sound as if this is the Republicans’ fault, and just more evidence that the GOP can’t get anything done.

But it was the Democrats who demanded this debate. They insisted that protecting the “Dreamers” was their biggest priority — so much so that they shut down the government to demonstrate their commitment to illegal immigrants.

Let’s be clear about this: President Trump offered a very generous deal — a path to citizenship for 1.8 million young illegal immigrants (which some Senate conservatives and I opposed), even though only 800,000 were part of Obama’s DACA program.

The president also rightly insisted that we address fundamental problems at the same time.

He wanted border security measures to end illegal immigration and these idiotic amnesty debates. He also demanded common sense reforms to our legal immigration system to address security concerns in an age of global terrorism and rapidly changing economic conditions.

The president’s immigration policies have overwhelming public support. A recent Harvard poll found that Americans supported Trump’s approach by a margin of 65% to 35%.

But Democrats sided with the 35%. They would rather see the “Dreamers” face deportation than compromise on their radical open borders agenda.

Heroes & Leaders

The deranged, evil acts of one individual Wednesday shocked the nation and took the lives of 17 innocent people. But there were also acts of kindness, heroism and self-sacrifice that saved an untold number of lives.

Football coach Aaron Feis died shielding students from gun fire. Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters yesterday:

“I knew Aaron personally… I don’t know when Aaron’s funeral is, I don’t know how many adults will go, but you’ll get 2,000 kids there. The kids in this community loved him. They adored him. He was one of the greatest people I knew. He was a phenomenal man.”

Student David Hogg said he and other students were running down a hallway toward the shooter when a janitor stopped them and turned them around. “Thank God he was there yesterday,” Hogg said.

Colton Haab and Zackary Walls are members of the school’s Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. Their training served them well as they took on the role of being first responders before the real first responders could get to the scene.

When the chaos erupted, they essentially became leaders and defenders of 60 students. Haab and Walls found Kevlar curtains and erected a shield. They barricaded the door and were prepared to fight back with anything they could get their hands on.

As the debate continues over what caused Nikolas Cruz to crack and how we should respond, we also should be asking what we can do to ensure that more of our children are like Colton Haab and Zackary Walls.

Fake News

Predictably, the Left and its media allies immediately resorted to savaging the Second Amendment after Wednesday’s shooting. Not only were they trotting out false talking points about “gun violence,” but this time it was fake news with an agenda.

The media are trying to spread the lie that school shootings have gone through the roof since Donald Trump took office.

For example, if you were watching any mainstream media outlet in the past 48 hours, you could not escape hearing this “fact” repeated ad nauseam: “The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in South Florida is the 18th school shooting in the U.S. in 2018.”

Eighteen in 2018 might have a nice ring to it, but it is false. According to The Washington Post, the statistic, from a far-left anti-Second Amendment group, includes seven shootings that occurred after school hours (meaning students were not present), one suicide (involving a 31 year-old man after school hours), and two accidental gun discharges with no injuries.

FBI Fails Again

One of the most disturbing questions emerging from the Florida shooting is why the FBI was unable to track down a disturbing social media post. In September, Ben Bennight contacted the FBI after reading the following message on his YouTube page: “I’m going to be a professional school shooter.”

The post was signed “Nikolas Cruz.” Agents quickly interviewed Mr. Bennight, but nothing else was done.

Today, we are learning that someone close to Cruz contacted authorities last month, concerned he might attack a school. The Bureau now concedes that “protocols were not followed.” Once again, the FBI has dropped the ball on another “known wolf.”

Perhaps the FBI should spend less time spying on perceived political enemies and get serious about targeting America’s real enemies.