Russian hackers often used pretty crude techniques in the leadup to the 2016 election. Case in point: The redacted Mueller report released this morning confirms that Russians sent "phishing" emails to 120 Florida election officials and that, troublingly, the FBI believes at least one county fell for the trick. The report does not name the county.

"We understand that the FBI believes that this operation enabled the GRU to gain access to the network of at least one Florida county government," the Mueller report states.

But the public has long known this was likely the case. In June 2017, the Intercept published leaked National Security Agency documents suggesting Russian hackers broke into VR Systems, a Tallahassee-based company that handles voter-roll technology for multiple Florida counties, including Miami-Dade and Broward. After that report became public, VR Systems confirmed to New Times it had been breached but said there was no evidence any election results were changed as a result of the intrusion.

A county spokesperson told New Times that "Miami-Dade County Information Technology Department has searched its email archive back to April 2014 and has no records of emails being received by the County... Miami-Dade County has received no breach notifications from any federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies or breach notifications from county vendors."

There is still no public evidence that Russians messed with Florida's presidential election, but the report is nevertheless more than troubling. (The government employee who leaked the documents to the Intercept — 27-year-old Reality Winner — was sentenced in August 2018 to five years and three months in prison in a case that free-speech advocates warn could have a chilling effect on the First Amendment.)

Former U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson was also lambasted in the press for claiming Russians had hacked into portions of Florida's electoral system. Though Nelson provided no evidence at the time, it appears today's report confirms much of his warning:

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The news is just one of many South Florida ties to the Trump-Russia affair: Fort Lauderdale resident Roger Stone has already been arrested for allegedly threatening witnesses in the case. And other players allegedly central to the case, including members of the billionaire Agalarov family, own property in Miami.

Otherwise, the Mueller report appears to be a catastrophe for President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr, who have spent the past few weeks downplaying its conclusions. In reality, it appears Special Counsel Robert Mueller collected reams of damning information about the president, including the fact that members of the Russian government explicitly tried to establish contacts with the Trump campaign and that the Russians believed a Trump presidency would benefit their interests.

"This is the end of my presidency," Trump allegedly said after learning the government had begun investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election, according to Mueller's report. "I'm fucked."

Update: The Florida Department of State issued the following media release this afternoon: