Special counsel Robert Mueller is laying the groundwork to charge Russians who participated in hacking and leaking private information intended to damage Democrats during the 2016 election, according to a new report.
The potential indictment would focus on the Russia-backed effort to steal and release emails from the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, NBC News reports.
Unnamed sources told the outlet that they expect the charges, which could include violations or statutes on conspiracy and election law, to be filed in the next several weeks or months.
However, Mueller may not move forward with the charges amid concerns that the charges would reveal intelligence information; or he could file them under seal in order to prevent the public from knowing the details.
A U.S. intelligence community report last year said with “high confidence” that WikiLeaks, among others, was found to have been used by Russian intelligence to release this information as part of an effort to get President Trump elected. WikiLeaks, led by founder Julian Assange, denies this assertion.
The NBC News story Thursday comes one day after the outlet reported that Mueller’s team has questioned witnesses about President Trump’s involvement and knowledge of the Democratic emails that were obtained and released.
Just last month, Mueller filed charges against 13 Russian Internet trolls and three Russian companies for attempting to subvert U.S. election to tip it in President Trump’s favor.
Mueller is not only investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, but also possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
