Special counsel Robert Mueller has indicted 12 Russian officials for federal crimes committed during the 2016 U.S. election, including trying to hack into servers belonging to Democratic officials.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein stressed Friday that the indictment is very specific, and that it does not include allegations of illegal activity committed by an American citizen.
[READ HERE: Mueller’s indictment against 12 Russians for hacking Democrats in 2016]
“There is no allegation in this indictment that any American citizen committed a crime,” he told reporters. “There is no allegation that the conspiracy altered the vote count or changed any election result.”
With that in mind, it’s still true to say there are notable and newsworthy reveals in Friday’s indictment. Here they are (in no particular order):
Call and response
Donald Trump told reporters on July 27, 2016, that he had no idea who was responsible for hacking email accounts belonging to Democratic National Committee officials and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, John Podesta.
The then-GOP nominee also said that whoever was behind those hacks likely had access to the thousands of messages previously stored on Clinton’s private and unauthorized home brew State Department email server, including the 33,000 she deleted instead of turning over to the appropriate officials when she exited Foggy Bottom in 2013.
“By the way, if they hacked, they probably have her 33,000 emails. I hope they do,” Trump told reporters during that July press conference. “They probably have her 33,000 emails that she lost and deleted.”
He added, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you can find the 33,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.”
This is where it gets interesting.
“The conspirators spearphished individuals affiliated with the Clinton Campaign throughout the summer of 2016,” read Friday’s indictment. “For example, on or about July 27, 2016, the Conspirators attempted after hours to spearphish for the first time email accounts at a domain hosted by a third-party provider and used by Clinton’s personal office. At or around the same time, they also targeted seventy-six email addresses at the domain for the Clinton Campaign.”
Note the dates.
To be clear, foreign operatives had been targeting the Clinton campaign since at least April 2016. But it also appears they increased their efforts following Trump’s remarks, targeting certain Clinton accounts for the first time on or around July 27.
At least three Americans were in contact with Russian hackers
The DOJ claimed Friday that Russian operatives were in regular contact with American sources during the 2016 election.
[Indictment: Russian hackers communicated with someone close to Trump campaign]
And not just any American sources! One was a U.S. congressional candidate.
“On or about August 15, 2016, the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, received a request for stolen documents form a candidate for the U.S. Congress,” the indictment claimed.
It also claimed that, “On or about August 15, 2016, the Conspirators … wrote to a person who was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign of Donald J. Trump.”
The indictment also said that the “Conspirators” reached out to a U.S. reporter “with an offer to provide stolen emails from ‘Hillary Clinton’s staff.’” The reporter apparently was interested, because the indictment also said the “Conspirators” soon sent him “the password to access a nonpublic, password-protected portion” of the stolen emails.
