'We'll be taken over by Russians': Ex-Bush White House official warns Americans are ‘sitting ducks’

Richard Painter, the former chief White House ethics lawyer in the George W. Bush adminstration, warned on MSNBC's "The Beat with Ari Melber" that America remains a "sitting duck" for Russian interference in our politics.

"You can't overstate what is happening right now, you are looking there at a Trump official announcing charges against Russians for helping the Trump campaign," Melber noted. "We're in new territory right now."

"Bob Mueller said that Russians were communicating with people associated with the Trump campaign," Melber reported. "I repeat, from the new Mueller indictment, these Russians -- now indicted -- were communicating with people associated with the Trump campaign."

Prof. Richard Painter noted the indictments prove, "the Russia investigation is not a hoax, anybody who said it is a hoax is a fool and doesn't belong in our government, whether they're a Democrat or a Republican."

"We've known for a long time that there's been Russian interference in our election, the CIA and the FBI told us that over a year ago and this indictment is the first step toward legal action being taken," Painter suggested.

"We're sitting ducks for the Russians. We're going to get taken over by the Russians," Painter warned.

"We got to understand that there are other people in the Trump campaign, including Donald Trump, Jr and Jared Kushner who met with other Russian agents in the Trump Tower to get dirt on Hillary Clinton, so there was definitely willing collaboration with the Russians with respect to the other parts of the Russian operation," Painter reminded.