Key revelations from latest indictment

Special counsel claims various interference acts

WASHINGTON – Special counsel Robert Mueller’s indictment of 13 Russian nationals and the Russian Internet Research Agency shows a wide range of interference in the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump and against Hillary Clinton.

Here are some key points from the indictment:

Unknown Trump official contacted

The Russians reached out to a stillunnamed campaign official at Trump’s campaign website to get information on how it was organizing rallies in Florida and New York. They got the official’s name from the Facebook page of the real “Florida for Trump” campaign, the indictment said.

More than 100 U.S. people helped

While the Russians coordinated the interference, they worked with more than 100 U.S. citizens, the indictment said.

In one case, the Russians learned from an unnamed “real U.S. person that they should focus their activities on ‘purple states’ like Colorado, Virginia & Florida.” The Americans, the indictment said, did not know they were communicating with Russians.

Illegal campaign contributions

The special counsel is using the Federal Election Campaign Act, which prohibits foreign nationals from “making any contributions, expenditures, independent expenditures, or disbursements for electioneering communications,” the indictment said.

The Russians’ activity falls into that category, the indictment said.

False accounts created

One of the defendants, the indictment said, created false online accounts to attract followers for false claims.

A Twitter account called “Tennessee GOP” or @TEN_GOP falsely claimed to be affiliated with the Tennessee Republican Party. “Over time, the @TEN_GOP account attracted more than 100,000 online followers,” the indictment said.

Contact by Fla. Trump official

On or about Aug. 15, 2016, the indictment said, a Florida-based political activist identified as a Florida county chairman for the Trump campaign contacted the defendants to identify “two additional sites in Florida for possible rallies. Defendants and their co-conspirators subsequently used their false U.S. persona accounts to communicate with the activist about logistics and an additional rally in Florida.”

Bragged about their impact

One defendant, Irina Viktorovna Kaverzina, wrote an email to a colleague saying, “I created all these pictures and posts, and the Americans believed that it was written by their people.”

Tried to suppress black voters

“On or about October 16, 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used the ORGANIZATION-controlled Instagram account ‘Woke Blacks’ to post “hatred for Trump is misleading the people. ... We cannot resort to the lesser of two devils. Then we’d surely be better off without voting AT ALL,” the indictment said.

Made false voter fraud claims

In the summer of 2016, the defendants, the indictment said, “began to promote allegations of voter fraud by the Democratic Party.” They claimed Clinton’s campaign committed voter fraud during the Iowa caucuses, was being investigated in North Carolina and tried to use fraudulent “mail in Hillary votes” in Broward County, Florida.

The Russian government, led by President Vladimir Putin, interfered in the 2016 presidential election in favor of Donald Trump, an indictment released Friday says.