A dozen Russian military officers were indicted Friday as prosecutors unveiled their most definitive charges yet of Putin regime cyber-crimes targeting the Clinton presidential campaign.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the very specific allegations in special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s ongoing and contentious probe into Russian hacking, laying out a deeply involved plot that operated for at least eight months before Election Day 2016.
Tens of thousands of documents were stolen and then made public by hacking into computers at the Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee beginning in March and April 2016, the indictment alleged.
Russian efforts to access Clinton’s personal emails began “on or about July 27, 2016” — the exact day when then-GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump referenced the former secretary of state’s online correspondence.
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” declared Trump, whose campaign later claimed the timely comment was merely a joke.
The 29-page, 11-count document was made public just three days before Trump’s widely anticipated Finland sitdown with the Russian president, igniting predictable responses from Republicans, Democrats and Russians alike.
The Russian Foreign Ministry invoked its version of Trump’s "fake news” in denying any role in the alleged efforts to swing the election to the Republicans and the political neophyte at the top of their ticket.
“It is regrettable that the circulation of false information in Washington has become the norm, and that criminal cases are brought for obvious political reasons,” said the ministry statement. “Obviously, the purpose of this is to spoil the atmosphere” of the Trump-Putin meeting.
But the new allegations now make it 25 Russians accused in the plot, and the supposed involvement of the country’s main intelligence doctorate of the general staff could indicate the plot was directed at the highest levels of the government.
Twenty people and three Russian companies were previously charged in the Mueller probe, a number that also includes four former Trump campaign and White House aides.
𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐛𝐨𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐨𝐧 𝐡𝐢𝐦𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟, 𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐬 𝐌𝐮𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐬 𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 »
According to Rosenstein, the indictment returned by a Washington grand jury accuses the Russians of surreptitiously conspiring to cripple the Clinton campaign. Eleven of the hackers were charged with stealing documents with the intent of making them public “to interfere in the election,” the prosecutor said.
A 12th defendant, along with one of the other 11, was charged with conspiring to “infiltrate computers or organizations responsible for administering elections” — including state boards of election, secretaries of state and election software companies, said Rosenstein. The indictment does not allege any vote tallies were altered by hacking in a race where Clinton lost despite easily winning the popular vote.
The hackers were also allegedly emailing with “a person who was in regular contact” with senior members of President Trump’s campaign — possibly former campaign manager Roger Stone, who issued a statement saying his exchange with “Guccifer 2.0” was public and benign. There are no charges of involvement by Trump campaign associates or allegations of Americans aware they were corresponding with Russian intelligence officers.
Trump was briefed about the allegations earlier this week and fully aware of the new indictments, said Rosenstein. The President was in London with Queen Elizabeth II when the indictments were released.
“The internet allows foreign adversaries to attack Americans in new and unexpected ways,” Rosenstein said. “Free and fair elections are hard-fought and contentious and there will always be adversaries who work to exacerbate domestic differences and try to confuse, divide and conquer us.”
Trump, just hours earlier, raised his now-familiar complaint that the Mueller investigation was hindering his efforts to create a working alliance with the Russians. “Pure stupidity,” the President said of the probe, despite the detailed allegations. “Anything you do, it’s always going to be, ‘Oh Russia — he loves Russia.’”
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) quickly called for the cancellation of the Trump-Putin meeting in the wake of the latest revelations.
“These indictments are further proof of what everybody but the President seems to understand: President (Vladimir) Putin is an adversary who interfered in our elections to help President Trump win," said Schumer.
“Glad-handing with Vladimir Putin on the heels of these indictments would be an insult to our democracy.”
Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani saw the indictment quite differently, as did the White House.
“The indictments Rod Rosenstein announced are good news for all Americans,” he tweeted. “The Russians are nailed. No Americans are involved. Time for Mueller to end this pursuit of the President and say President Trump is completely innocent.”
A statement from the administration echoed that sentiment — and made no mention of Russia’s alleged actions.
“Today’s charges include no allegations of knowing involvement by anyone on the campaign and no allegations that the alleged hacking affected the election result,” the White House said. “This is consistent with what we have been saying all along."
𝐅𝐁𝐈 𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩'𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐆𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐅𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐬 »
Rosenstein decried the predictable political partisanship that follows every step in the continuing investigation.
“When we confront foreign interference in American elections, it is important for us to avoid thinking politically as Republicans or Democrats and instead to think patriotically as Americans,” he said.