12 Russians accused of hacking DNC
US indicts intelligence officers in probe of ’16 election interference
WASHINGTON – Twelve Russian military intelligence officers were charged Friday in a broad hacking scheme that targeted the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign as part of the Kremlin’s effort to undermine the 2016 election, the Justice Department announced.
The 11-count indictment, unveiled just days before President Donald Trump was set to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki, Finland, asserts that the Russian suspects “engaged in a sustained effort” to retrieve the most sensitive information held by the Democratic Party.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the action, part of the continuing investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller. Some Democratic lawmakers called on the White House to im-
mediately punish the Kremlin by canceling the Putin meeting.
The White House did not address that demand Friday, but reasserted that the indictment had not implicated anyone connected to Trump’s campaign.
“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,” White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said.
Hours before the indictments were announced, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, firmly denied Moscow meddled in the election, according to The Associated Press.
Rosenstein said he had briefed Trump on the coming indictments earlier this week.
At the heart of the case, Mueller’s team charged that the Russian operatives sought to “steal documents” from the Democrats’ computer systems and “stage the release ... to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”
The charges build on a case Mueller brought in February, charging 13 Russian nationals and three businesses – including an internet firm tied to the Kremlin – with waging “information warfare against the United States” with the goal of “spreading distrust toward the candidates and the political system.”
Still, Friday’s indictment contained no allegations that the actions altered the vote count or changed the outcome of the 2016 presidential elections.
Among the jarring disclosures in the 29-page indictment was the allegation that the Russian intelligence officials first sought to penetrate email accounts associated with Clinton’s personal offices on July 27, 2016.
That same day, then-candidate Trump appeared to enlist Russia in a similar effort.
“Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said at the time, referring to Clinton’s use of a private email server while she was secretary of state.
Also contained in Friday’s court documents, federal prosecutors said that the Russian operatives in August 2016 “received a request for stolen documents from a candidate for U.S. Congress.” According to court papers, the suspects posing as online activists later sent the unnamed candidate stolen information related to the candidate’s opponent.
The group also allegedly conspired to hack into computers of state election boards, secretaries of state and U.S. companies that supplied software and other technology related to election administrations.