US President Donald Trump (L) chats with Russia's President Vladimir Putin as they attend the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting, part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in the central Vietnamese city of Danang on November 11, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / SPUTNIK / Mikhail KLIMENTYEV (Photo credit should read MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/AFP/Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 21: Special counsel Robert Mueller (2nd L) leaves after a closed meeting with members of the Senate Judiciary Committee June 21, 2017 at the Capitol in Washington, DC. The committee meets with Mueller to discuss the firing of former FBI Director James Comey. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Director Robert Mueller testifies before the US Senate Judiciary Committee on oversight during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, June 19, 2013. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images) (CNN) — The Justice Department announced indictments against 12 Russian nationals as part of special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, accusing them of engaging in a “sustained effort” to hack Democrats’ emails and computer networks. All 12 defendants are members of the GRU, a Russian federation intelligence agency within the main intelligence directorate of the Russian military, who were acting in “their official capacities.” The revelations provide more detail on the sophisticated assault on the US election in 2016, including the release of emails designed to damage Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The indictment was announced at almost exactly the moment that President Donald Trump rolled into the quadrangle of Windsor Castle to meet the awaiting Queen Elizabeth II in the symbolic highpoint of his visit to Britain. Trump is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin – who has denied election meddling – in Helsinki on Monday for a summit that includes a one-on-one meeting with only interpreters present. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said Friday the summit will not be canceled. The Justice Department says the hacking targeted Clinton’s campaign, Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, with the intention to “release that information on the internet under the names DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 and through another entity.” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said the indictment does not name any American citizen, but told reporters that defendants “corresponded with several Americans during the course of the conspiracy through the internet.” “There is no allegation in this indictment that any American citizen committed a crime,” Rosenstein said at a news conference. “There is no allegation that the conspiracy altered the vote count or changed any election result.” Deputy White House press secretary Lindsay Walters referenced Rosenstein’s comments and said there is no evidence tying the Trump campaign to hacking attempts. “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,” Walters said in a statement. “This is consistent with what we have been saying all along.” Trump private attorney Rudy Giuliani in a tweet said the indictments are “good news for all Americans” but called on the special counsel investigation to end. “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,” he tweeted. The indictments Rod Rosenstein announced are good news for all Americans. 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. — Rudy W. Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) July 13, 2018 Trump, meanwhile, did not criticize Putin or condemn Russia’s actions in a pair of tweets on Saturday, instead attacking his predecessor, former President Barack Obama, with what has become a familiar claim of his. “The stories you heard about the 12 Russians yesterday took place during the Obama Administration, not the Trump Administration,” Trump wrote. “Why didn’t they do something about it, especially when it was reported that President Obama was informed by the FBI in September, before the Election?” “These Russian individuals did their work during the Obama years,” Trump continued in a tweet later Saturday. “Why didn’t Obama do something about it? Because he thought Crooked Hillary Clinton would win, that’s why. Had nothing to do with the Trump Administration, but Fake News doesn’t want to report the truth, as usual!” Obama, however, personally warned Putin against messing with the election, imposed sanctions on Russian individuals and entities, kicked out 35 Russian diplomats and closed two of the Kremlin’s compounds in the United States. Announced as Trump meets Queen Elizabeth II Rosenstein said he briefed Trump about the allegations in the indictment earlier this week and that “the President is fully aware of the department’s actions today.” Asked about the timing of the announcement, Rosenstein said it came as “a function of the collection of the facts, the evidence, the law, and a determination that it was sufficient to present the indictment at this time.” The unfolding drama on both sides of the Atlantic reflected how Trump’s presidency has been overshadowed by the Mueller probe from its earliest moments and how the investigation frequently tramples the President’s attempts to carve out favorable headlines. Some lawmakers are calling on Trump to cancel the meeting with Putin. “Glad-handing with Vladimir Putin on the heels of these indictments would be an insult to our democracy,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. “President Trump must be willing to confront Putin from a position of strength and demonstrate that there will be a serious price to pay for his ongoing aggression towards the United States and democracies around the world,” said GOP Sen. John McCain in a statement. “If President Trump is not prepared to hold Putin accountable, the summit in Helsinki should not move forward.” In a statement, Russia’s foreign ministry said there was no basis for the charges and said purpose of the announcement is to “spoil the atmosphere” before Monday’s summit. “It is regrettable that the duplication of false information in Washington has become the norm, and criminal cases are worked up for obvious political reasons.<doc-sep>The indictment does not mention those remarks. Separately, the indictment states that the hackers were communicating with “a person who was in regular contact with senior members of the presidential campaign.” Two government officials identified the person as Roger J. Stone Jr., a longtime adviser to Mr. Trump and the subject of close scrutiny by the F.B.I. and Mr. Mueller’s team. There is no indication that Mr. Stone knew he was communicating with Russians. Communicating on Aug. 15 as Guccifer 2.0, an online persona, the Russian hackers wrote: “thank u for writing back … do u find anyt[h]ING interesting In the docs i posted?” Two days later, the hackers wrote the person again, adding, “please tell me If i can help u anyhow … it would be a great pleasure to me.” In another interaction several weeks later, the hackers, again writing as Guccifer 2.0, pointed to a document stolen from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and posted online, asking, “what do u think of the info on the turnout model for the democrats entire presidential campaign.” The person replied: “[p]retty standard.” Friday’s indictment is a “big building block in the narrative being constructed for the American people regarding what happened during the election,” said Raj De, the chairman of the cybersecurity practice at Mayer Brown and the former general counsel of the National Security Agency. By pulling together threads that Americans have read about for years — including the hacking of political institutions and campaigns, the dissemination of hacked emails and the attempts to compromise state election infrastructure — “this shows that the Russian campaign to impact the election was more coordinated and strategic than some have given it credit,” Mr. De said. “This indictment is our clearest window into that campaign.”<doc-sep>Special counsel Robert Mueller Robert (Bob) MuellerSenate Democrats urge Garland not to fight court order to release Trump obstruction memo Why a special counsel is guaranteed if Biden chooses Yates, Cuomo or Jones as AG Barr taps attorney investigating Russia probe origins as special counsel MORE has indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers in the 2016 hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein Rod RosensteinProtect the police or the First Amendment? Rosenstein: Zero tolerance immigration policy 'never should have been proposed or implemented' Comey argues Trump shouldn't be prosecuted after leaving Oval Office MORE announced the long-awaited indictment Friday at a press conference in Washington, D.C. "The indictment charges 12 Russian military officers by name for conspiring to interfere with the 2016 presidential election," Rosenstein said. ADVERTISEMENT All 12 of the defendants are members of the GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency. Eleven are charged with conspiring to hack into networks used by the DNC as well as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). The twelfth individual is charged with conspiring to hack into systems used to administer elections — including hacking into a website of a state elections board and sending spear-phishing emails to state elections officials. Rosenstein said that the Justice Department intends to transfer this specific case to the department's national security division from the special counsel's office — meaning that the case will remain open even if Mueller's investigation is shut down. The successful apprehension of the Russians is highly unlikely, given that they are out of reach of U.S. law enforcement in Moscow. The indictment was returned by a grand jury in the District of Columbia on Friday. Reports began to emerge in late 2017 that U.S. prosecutors were eyeing charges against Russians in the DNC hack. The Wall Street Journal reported last November that the Justice Department had identified six Russian government officials implicated in the hack and were considering whether to indict them. The unclassified U.S. intelligence community assessment released last January blamed Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, for breaching the DNC email accounts of Democratic party officials. The intelligence community believes the Russian efforts were intended to help elect President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE, a conclusion the Senate Intelligence Committee said earlier this month it saw no reason to dispute. Trump has dismissed that conclusion as a "fake news" excuse for Democrats for losing the election, and on Friday the White House released a statement saying the latest indictment confirms its longstanding stance that there was "no collusion" between the Russians and 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. This is consistent with what we have been saying all along," White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said. The hacking operation targeting Democratic officials, which began in March of 2016, was allegedly carried out by two Russian intelligence units, one devoted to conducting cyber operations, and another to leaking hacked information. The indictment alleges that the Russians created the online personas DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0, which then leaked the hacked information. “Both were created and controlled by the Russian GRU,” Rosenstein said. The indictment also alleges that the Russians used an organization as a “passthrough” to release documents — though that organization is not identified. During the lead up to the election, WikiLeaks released hacked emails from the DNC and Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham ClintonHillary Clinton takes on conspiracy theories on Borat special Top general: Russia, China will look to expand influence in Middle East as US pulls back We have a chance to halt climate change if we stop destroying carbon sinks and cut methane MORE campaign chair John Podesta. The indictment lays out 11 criminal allegations and one forfeiture allegation. The Russians face a myriad of charges related to computer hacking, identity theft and money laundering. The announcement Friday followed much the same form as the one five months ago in which Rosenstein revealed that Mueller had indicted on fraud charges 13 Russians who allegedly engaged in an elaborate plot to interfere in the presidential election. Friday’s indictment was unsealed a mere two days before Trump is poised to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin face-to-face in Helsinki. Russia has repeatedly denied meddling in the election. Rosenstein said he had briefed Trump on the allegations “earlier this week.” “The president is fully aware of today's actions by the department,” he said. Rosenstein, whose role overseeing the Russia probe has earned him personal attacks from Trump, said it is “important for the president to know what information was uncovered because he has to make very important decisions for the country.” “He needs to know what evidence there is of foreign election interference,” Rosenstein said of Trump. The president has pledged to bring up the Kremlin's election meddling while meeting in Helsinki, saying Friday he will "absolutely firmly ask the question," but Putin denied Russia's role during their first face-to-face last year. In one of the more intriguing nuggets contained in the highly detailed indictment, Mueller revealed that an unnamed candidate for Congress asked the Russian conspirators posing as Guccifer 2.0 to give him or her documents stolen from the DNC and the DCCC. Guccifer 2.0 responded to the request and provided the candidate with documents related to his or her opponent, the indictment says. The indictment provided no details about the identity of the candidate. The request was granted in mid-August of 2016, during the general election and not primary season. Prosecutors allege that the Russian tried to conceal their links to Moscow by using computer networks around the world, paid for in cryptocurrency, a hard-to-trace form of digital currency. While the individuals communicated with Americans in this effort, the latest indictment makes no allegation that Americans knowingly engaged with Russian intelligence officers. “There is no allegation in this indictment that any American citizens committed a crime,” Rosenstein said.<doc-sep>“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. Our response must not depend on who was victimized,” he said. “There will always be adversaries who work to exacerbate domestic differences and try to confuse, divide and conquer us. So long as we are united in our commitment to the values enshrined in the Constitution, they will not succeed.”<doc-sep>
Special counsel Robert Mueller charged a dozen Russian intelligence officers on Friday with hacking the computers of Democratic organizations and ensuring the pilfered information became public, putting Russia’s interference in the 2016 election front and center as President Donald Trump prepares to meet President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki. The detailed 29-page indictment, which identified the alleged operatives by name and rank, is the latest set of charges in Mr. Mueller’s wide-ranging investigation into the Kremlin’s electoral meddling. Mr. Trump, who has expressed skepticism that Russia was involved in the hacking, told reporters before the indictment that he planned to raise the issue with Mr. Putin. In a tweet Saturday morning issued from his golf resort in Scotland, Mr. Trump faulted the Obama administration for the Russian hacking alleged in the indictment. “The stories you heard about the 12 Russians yesterday took place during the Obama Administration, not the Trump Administrations,” he wrote. “Why didn’t they do something about it, especially when it was reported that President Obama was informed by the FBI in September, before the Election?” Mr. Obama in September confronted Mr. Putin over election meddling. Newsletter Sign-up Notes on the News Today’s headlines, news in context, and good reads you may have missed, with Tyler Blint-Welsh. PREVIEW The indictment lays out a vivid picture of a powerful nation deploying the latest technological trickery in a secretive effort to subvert the U.S. election. It alsooutlines notable details, including the way operatives allegedly used false Google security alerts to hoodwink Democratic staffers or created emails that differed by one letter from the name of a staffer of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Russia doesn’t extradite its citizens to face trial in the U.S., so the defendants aren’t likely to see the inside of an American courtroom, though they may be restricted in their ability to travel. Rather, the document lays out a broad case that the Russian government directed an array of crimes as it sought to disrupt the 2016 campaign. In announcing the case, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein cited the deep partisan divide in the U.S. between Republicans and Democrats, and encouraged Americans to assess the charges on their merits and not through a political lens. “The Internet allows foreign adversaries to attack America in new and unexpected ways,” Mr. Rosenstein said. “Our response must not depend on who was victimized.” A White House spokeswoman noted that the indictment cited no wrongdoing by Americans and didn’t allege that any votes were affected. “This is consistent with what we have been saying all along,” spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said. Russia on Friday repeated its previous denials of electoral meddling, saying the indictment was designed to “spoil the atmosphere” of the Trump-Putin meeting. Democrats urged Mr. Trump to cancel the summit and refrain from meeting Mr. Putin until Russia takes responsibility and pledges to refrain from future election interference. They were joined by Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), who said on Twitter that “if President Trump is not prepared to hold Putin accountable, the #HelsinkiSummit should not move forward.” The indictment depicted a determined effort by two units of the Kremlin’s intelligence directorate, called the GRU, to steal tens of thousands of emails and documents from Mrs. Clinton’s campaign and Democratic groups, distribute them through fake online personas and pay for it through mining digital currency. Two of the defendants were also accused of hacking computers of those responsible for administering elections, including secretaries of state. The hacked emails, from the account of Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta and others, led to a series of embarrassing news stories at the height of the 2016 campaign. According to the indictment, the Russian officers targeted more than 300 people associated with the Clinton campaign, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic National Committee, luring them with fake emails. The hackers sent such a “spear-phishing” email to Mr. Podesta on March 19, 2016. Mr. Podesta followed the fake security instructions in the message, giving the hackers the ability to steal more than 50,000 of his emails, the indictment said. Meanwhile, the officers were also targeting the DCCC, and obtained the credentials of one employee to access the network. That gave them access to at least 10 computers and the ability to monitor employees’ computer activity and steal passwords. Using that information, they successfully hacked into the DNC computers, ultimately gaining access to 33 DNC computers. Once inside the network, Russian operatives demonstrated a focused effort to find files on particular topics, the indictment said.