The 2016 presidential election is permanently etched into many American's minds. Most people, including many media outlets and Donald Trump himself thought Hillary Clinton would win the election. She swept the popular vote but he swept the electoral college and therefore the election.

Accusations that Russia interfered in our election seemed insane to many at first, even laughable, until they were proven true.

The United States now knows that Russia interfered in our election. They interfered in a number of states in the polls and used Facebook to produce propaganda to sway voters towards Donald Trump. They also hacked democratic accounts and released embarrassing emails related to Hillary Clinton's campaign. However, our main concern is if the president and his campaign were involved in it.

Robert Mueller has been working as the special investigator of Russian interference specifically connected to American cooperation. After months of gathering information and investigating, Mueller was finally ready to announce the first indictments on Monday. Both Paul Manafort (Trump's campaign manager) and Manafort's business partner Rick Gates were indicted. They were charged on 12 counts including but not limited to conspiracy against the United States, being unreported foreign agents, and money laundering. At most, Manafort could go to jail for 12 years and Gates could go for 10.

At their initial hearing they both pleaded "not guilty" to all of the charges. Both are currently on house arrest with their bail set at 10 and 5 million dollars respectively because with the severity of their charges, and their wealth, both were considered flight risks. Consequently, both had their passports taken away. Although, today it was reported that Manafort has 3 passports and traveled to China using a phone with a fake identity. Neither Manafort nor Gates has to put any collateral down or pay any bail money-they just have to not break the terms of the house arrest.

But the story didn't stop with those indictments. George Papadopoulos, a foreign advisor for Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, pled "guilty" to lying to the FBI about a conversation with a professor with close ties to the Russian government. Trump dismissed Papadoupoulous as a low-level unpaid volunteer.

Trump also said that most of what Manafort had been accused of happened before his election. He asked why Hillary and the democrats weren't being investigated instead of him.

Robert Mueller is just getting started and it'll be interesting to see where this investigation goes.