Credit: Kremlin (edited)

Putin and Trump have essentially publicly admitted to their crimes.

In his most impressive feat yet, Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed the most powerful country in the world without firing a bullet. Cyber warfare—it is a form of warfare too new to be recognized as violent, but it is violent. World leaders are still loading their muskets while Putin is aiming his howitzer.

When Donald Trump said in Helsinki that there was little reason to believe Russia interfered in the 2016 election, which showed us he was siding with the man who put him in office over our country, it was the latest scene of a robbery in broad daylight. Many called his actions treasonous, and some argued you cannot call them treasonous because treason only applies when we’re at war with a country. Well, my friends, we are at war with Russia.

To be clear, Donald Trump is not at war with Russia, but America is. Our intelligence community is at war, our politicians are at war and the people are at war. Not only did Russia’s military attack one of our main political parties in 2016, they attacked our election systems, and now they’re attacking our critical infrastructure. That includes “energy, nuclear, commercial facilities, water, aviation, and critical manufacturing sectors,” according to the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI. Putin could conceivably cause chaos and likely deaths by triggering massive blackouts or interfering with air traffic control. It is difficult to overstate the dangers we find ourselves facing.

I do not say these things in order to frighten. I say them because they are our current reality. I do not say we are at war with Russia with any pleasure. It is an extremely unfortunate situation we’ve encountered. Furthermore, I do not write this as a way of beating the drums of war against Russia. I’m hoping for a peaceful, non-military solution, but I must be frank.

The country was stolen. Since we learned of this, the thieves have come out and bragged about it publicly. They are so pleased with what they’ve accomplished, and they feel strongly that they’ll never get more than a slap on the wrist for it. We saw Trump’s treason in Helsinki—how he publicly sided with the robber after the crime occurred—and we saw a shocking admission from Putin during the same press conference.

Reuters reporter Jeff Mason: President Putin, did you want President Trump to win the election and did you direct any of your officials to help him do that? Vladimir Putin: Yes, I did. Yes, I did. Because he talked about bringing the U.S.–Russia relationship back to normal.

It is not entirely clear if Putin was admitting he directed his officials to help Trump in this statement, but it is clear he was saying he wanted Trump to win in 2016. He was happy to admit Trump was his pick for president while were all well aware Russians hacked the Democratic Party and manipulated voters to make sure he would win. (He’s even said “patriotic hackers” from Russia may have meddled in the election.) Putin and Trump stood there, side-by-side, brazenly showing us who they really are and what they’re really doing.

This is not the first or most explicit example of one of these men publicly confessing to their respective crimes. Back in May of 2017, Trump admitted during a taped interview with NBC’s Lester Holt that he fired James Comey because of the Russia investigation. He essentially admitted he was engaging in a coverup to protect Putin and himself. Shortly after, Trump told Russian officials in the Oval Office that he fired Comey to hurt the Russia investigation. (By the way, that was the same meeting in which Trump revealed highly classified information to the Russians.)

Then there is the fact Trump has publicly attacked Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from the Russia investigation and said he wouldn’t have nominated Sessions if he had known he was going to do that. Then there’s Trump admitting to personally dictating his son’s misleading statement about what happened in Trump Tower when they had that infamous meeting with the Russians. Right in broad daylight, we watched him tell us how he would block out the sun.

Without yet admitting to collusion or some kind of conspiracy, Putin and Trump have not-so-subtly told us all that one attacked our democracy and the other is happy to cover his tracks. That, in itself, seems to me a form of collusion. Would you not be arrested for cleaning up your friend’s crime scene?

We do not yet know if Trump and Putin were involved in a conspiracy against the U.S. in the months leading up to the 2016 election, but what we do know is damning enough. We know Trump’s son tried to collude. We know Trump helped him cover his ass. We know Trump is helping Putin cover his. There are crimes here before it is determined if a conspiracy happened or not. We know of Putin’s crimes and Trump’s abetting of those crimes.

Robert Mueller may be one of the most talented prosecutors in America, but you don’t need to be to see how Putin and Trump have publicly outlined their illegal actions. They’re gloating about what they’ve gotten away with, and they are thrilled by how much this gloating riles up their enemies. That’s us. We watched our country be taken away from us, and the thieves were so arrogant that they told us all how they did it.