By now, you have all heard it. Here is the official transcript:

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Director of National Intelligence came out with a report today saying that Vladimir Putin authorized operations during the election to under — denigrate you, support President Trump, undermine our elections, divide our society. What price must he pay?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: He will pay a price. I, we had a long talk, he and I, when we — I know him relatively well. And I- the conversation started off, I said, "I know you and you know me. If I establish this occurred, then be prepared."

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: You said you know he doesn't have a soul.

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I did say that to him, yes. And — and his response was, "We understand one another." It was- I wasn't being a wise guy. I was alone with him in his office. And that — that's how it came about. It was when President Bush had said, "I looked in his eyes and saw his soul." I said, "Looked in your eyes and I don't think you have a soul." And looked back and he said, "We understand each other." Look, most important thing dealing with foreign leaders in my experience, and I've dealt with an awful lot of 'em over my career, is just know the other guy. Don't expect somethin' that you're- that — don't expect him to- or her to- voluntarily appear in the second editions of Profiles in Courage.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: So you know Vladimir Putin. You think he's a killer?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: Uh-huh. I do.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: So what price must he pay?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: The price he's gonna pay we'll- you'll see shortly.

This is truly a historic interview and a watershed moment in US-Russia relations. Let's deconstruct what is happening here:

'Peak cult sh*t'

With no hot elections looming and ex-president Donald Trump having retired to Florida, social media's Orange Man Bad brigade has fallen back on tantalizing 'what-if' fantasies starring Hillary Clinton.

Having safely delivered the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, Twitter's keyboard-warrior #Resistance has struggled to find the kind of meaningful cause that can reliably fill up entire days with productive partisan trolling.

After many wars built on lies over the decades, people might have developed a good BS radar. Instead, in March 2011, when media and human rights groups pushed propaganda about Syria, the public once again fell for it.

Front page, round-the-clock headlines were pumped out, and transparently hollow Western pundits tut-tutted Syria's president and claimed the Syrian government was cracking down on "peaceful protesters."

But this is March 2021, and while Western lies and fake concern have dominated news on Syria, Syrians deserve to have the reality - their suffering under some of the most heinous terrorism the world has known - highlighted instead.

In reality, March 2011 in Syria saw well-armed thugs attacking not only government buildings, but killing soldiers and civilians too.

A ruling by a Michigan judge has declared the way Secretary of State (SOS) Jocelyn Benson ran the election was illegal just as the Trump camp alleged but no court was willing to even hear the evidence. Mostly, the ruling covers mail in ballots and upheld the right of the legislature to create voting laws and the SOS has no authority to go beyond what the legislature passed into law.

Benson sent out ballots to all registered voters and then tried to say the election was both safe and secure. But how can it be secure when Benson also told those running the election that they were to assume all signatures are valid whether they are or not? They were not allowed to verify the signatures match what was on record from when they registered to vote. This is just rife for manufacturing votes.

European lawmakers have voted to waive the immunity of the former Catalan leader along with two other separatists MEPs. The move could pave the way for their extradition.

The European Parliament voted on Tuesday in favor of lifting immunity from the former leader of Spain's Catalonia region, Carles Puigdemont.

The lawmakers also waived immunity for Toni Comin, the former Catalan health minister, and former regional education minister Clara Ponsati.

The trio fled to Belgium in October 2017 along with other Catalan separatists. They are wanted by Spain after holding an independence referendum that the Spanish government said was illegal.

Russian President Vladimir Putin likely directed efforts to try to swing the 2020 U.S. presidential election to Donald Trump, according to an American intelligence report released on Tuesday that sources said would likely trigger U.S. sanctions on Moscow.

The 15-page report, released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, added heft to longstanding allegations that some of Trump's top lieutenants were playing into Moscow's hands by amplifying claims made against then-candidate Joe Biden by Russian-linked Ukrainian figures in the run-up to the Nov. 3 election. It also added new findings that Putin either oversaw or at least approved of the election meddling to benefit Trump.

Washington is expected to impose sanctions on Moscow as soon as next week because of the allegations, three sources said on condition of anonymity.

Representatives of the Joe Biden administration, US military and MSM have all criticised Fox News host Tucker Carlson in recent days. But the attacks are only likely to strengthen his popularity among America's conservatives.

Tucker Carlson has been around the political game for a great many years. He first made his name with a show called Crossfire, which former Daily Show host Jon Stewart accused of "hurting America." Now he resides on Fox News, and has some of the highest ratings of any political show host. Although he is no stranger to controversy or political attacks, it seems that the Democrats have singled him out as their number one 'troublemaker' to target.

Recently, some in the Biden administration and some military officials used government social media accounts and resources to launch political attacks against Carlson. The Department of Defense's .gov website, the US Space Command Leader's official Twitter account, and the US Marines' II MEF information group all attacked Carlson for his opinions on women in the military.

After a much anticipated and hyped federal investigation and intelligence report into 'Russia-linked cyber attacks' found (gasp... or rather entirely as expected in yet the latest repackaged iteration of long deflated Russiagate) the Kremlin mounted an online 'interference' campaign related to the 2020 election, President Biden said in a bombshell ABC News interview that he agrees Vladimir Putin is a "killer" and that he's going to pay a price. CNN reports sanctions are likely coming, specifically targeting "people close to Russia President Vladimir Putin as soon as next week."

Here's the key part of the pre-recorded interview with George Stephanopoulos which aired early Wednesday:

Asked whether he believes Mr Putin is a "killer" in a pre-taped interview that aired on Wednesday, the president responded: "I do."

"The price he's going to pay, you'll see shortly," he said.

Mr Biden recalled meeting Mr Putin, during which he reportedly told him that he "doesn't have a soul": "I wasn't being a wise guy."

"He looked back at me and said, 'We understand each other'," Mr Biden said.

A new report from the US National Intelligence Council assesses that most of the governments the US-centralized empire has targeted for destruction are guilty of seeking to interfere in the nation's 2020 election.

Ahem.

Yeah, so, that's the news. According to the US intelligence cartel, the nations which sought to interfere in the outcome of the US election include Russia, Iran, China, Lebanese Hizballah, Cuba and Venezuela. Interestingly, exactly zero nations aligned geopolitically with the United States are listed as having interfered in its electoral process.

"We assess that Russian President Putin authorized, and a range of Russian government organizations conducted, influence operations aimed at denigrating President Biden's candidacy and the Democratic Party, supporting former President Trump, undermining public confidence in the electoral process, and exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the US," the report informs us. "A key element of Moscow's strategy this election cycle was its use of proxies linked to Russian intelligence to push influence narratives-including misleading or unsubstantiated allegations against President Biden - to US media organizations, US officials, and prominent US individuals, including some close to former President Trump and his administration."

"We assess that Iran carried out a multi-pronged covert influence campaign intended to undercut former President Trump's reelection prospects - though without directly promoting his rivals - undermine public confidence in the electoral process and US institutions, and sow division and exacerbate societal tensions in the US," the report adds. "We assess that Supreme Leader Khamenei authorized the campaign and Iran's military and intelligence services implemented it using overt and covert messaging and cyber operations."

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy went on trial on Wednesday over claims of illicit financing for his failed 2012 re-election bid, just two weeks after a landmark conviction for corruption.

On March 1, the 66-year-old became France's first post-war president to be sentenced to prison when he was given a three-year term, two years of which were suspended, for corruption and influence peddling.

This case was one of several hanging over him since he left office.

Sarkozy has denied any wrongdoing, saying he is the victim of a vindictive judicial system with which he tangled while in power between 2007 and 2012.