Special counsel Robert Mueller has indicted 12 Russian military officials for federal crimes during the 2016 election, including hacking into Democratic emails and servers, including servers run by Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
The move was announced by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, just days before President Trump will meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, when he is expected to press Putin again to explain the U.S. argument that Russia meddled in the U.S. election. It’s likely to boost Democrats who have argued for more than a year that Russia was trying to help get Trump elected, in the face of counterclaims from some Republicans that Democrats leaned on this complaint to explain Clinton’s loss to Trump.
Both Democratic and Republican lawmakers immediately seized on the indictment to call on Trump to cancel the one-on-one meeting.
The announcement also came as Trump met with Queen Elizabeth in Britain, who earlier Friday again referred to Mueller’s investigation as a “rigged witch hunt.”
Trump was briefed earlier this week on the indictment, Rosenstein said.
Mueller’s 29-page indictment, filed in federal court in Washington, alleged that the 12 Russian officials “engaged in a sustained effort” to break into computers owned by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic National Committee, and Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
The 12 Russians are charged with releasing emails under the names DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 in an attempt to “interfere” with the 2016 election, the indictment alleges.
The defendants worked for two units of a Russian Federation intelligence agency within the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian military, known as the GRU, and started the hacking efforts as early as April 2016.
The Russia’s used two techniques to hack into Democratic computers, Rosenstein said at a press conference Friday at the Justice Department headquarters in Washington.
One was using misleading emails to volunteers and employees of Clinton’s presidential campaign to trick users into disclosing their usernames passwords, a process known as spearphishing. Then, the Russians used that information to hack into computer networks to install malware and spy on users and capture information.
“The Internet allows foreign adversaries to attack America in new and unexpected ways,” Rosenstein said in a prepared statement. “Together with our law enforcement partners, the Department of Justice is resolution in its commitment to locate, identify and seek to bring to justice anyone who interferes with American elections.
According to the Justice Department, there is no allegation in the indictment that any American was a knowing participant in the Russian’s efforts, nor did they know they were communicating with Russian intelligence officers.
Further, there is no allegation in the indictment that Russians were able to alter a vote count or change the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.
However, the Russians were able to hack the website of a state election board and steal information of roughly 500,000 voters.
“They also hacked into computers of a company that supplied software used to verify voter registration information,” Rosenstein told reporters Friday.
Rosenstein said the Justice Department’s National Security Division will take over responsibility of the indictment amid the process of apprehending the Russians, and that Mueller’s investigation remains ongoing.
When pressed about the announcement coming so close to Trump’s meeting with Putin, Rosenstein said it unfolded because of “a function of the collection of the facts, the evidence, the law, and a determination that it was sufficient to present the indictment at this time.”
“People who speculate about federal indictments do not know all the relevant facts. Most anonymous leak are not from the government officials who are conducting these investigations,” Rosenstein said.
Those named in the indictment are: Viktor Borisovich Netyksho, Boris Alekseyevich Antonov, Dmitriy Sergeyevich Badin, Ivan Sergeyevich Yermakov, Aleksey Viktorovich Lukashev, Sergey Aleksandrovich Morgachev, Nikolay Yuryevich Kozachek, Pavel Vyacheslavovich Yershov, Artem Andreyevich Malyshev, Aleksandr Vladimirovich Osadchuk, Aleksey Aleksandrovich Potemkin and Anatoliy Sergeyevich Kovalev.
According to the indictment, the effort to hack email accounts — including the account of Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta — began at latest in March 2016.
Then around April 2016, the hacking of the computer networks of the the DCCC and DNC began, the indictment alleges. And in the same month, the Russians began to plan the release of the stolen materials.
Around June 2016, the Russians “staged and released tens of thousands of stolen emails and documents” under the names DCLeaks and Gufficer 2.0, the indictment alleges.
The spearphishing efforts against people affiliated with the Clinton campaign continued through summer 2016, the indictment alleged.
For example, on or about July 27, 2016, the Russians attempted “for the first time” to hack email accounts at a domain used by Clinton’s personal office. They also targeted 76 email addresses at the Clinton campaign’s domain.
Also on July 27, 2017, Trump expressed doubt that Russia was behind the DNC hack.
He later said at the press conference in Florida: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” though the administration later characterized the comment as a joke.
The Russians also communicated with someone who was in regular contact with senior members of the Trump campaign, the indictment reveals. Though that person is not named, it is likely campaign advisor Roger Stone.
The Russians used false identities and made false statements about who they were to hide their connections to the Kremlin, the indictment says. They also used a network of computers located globally — including in the U.S. — and paid for it by using cryptocurrency.
So far, Mueller has filed more than 100 criminal counts against 32 people, including 26 Russians, and three companies. Three Trump associates have already pleaded guilty.
The U.S. intelligence community concluded in January 2017 that Russia attempted to influence the election, findings that the president has not publicly fully accepted.
But Trump did say he plans to tell Putin to stay out of upcoming elections.
“I know you’ll ask will we be talking about meddling?” Trump told reporters Friday. “And I will absolutely bring that up. I don’t think you’ll have any, ‘Gee, I did it, I did it, you got me.’ There won’t be a Perry Mason here, I don’t think, but you never know what happens, right? But I will absolutely firmly ask the question. And hopefully we’ll have a very good relationship with Russia.”
