Special counsel indicts Russian nationals for interfering with U.S. elections and political processes

Show Caption Hide Caption U.S. indicts 13 Russian nationals with interfering in 2016 election Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office said on Friday that a federal grand jury has indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities accused of interfering with U.S. elections and political processes.

WASHINGTON – Special counsel Robert Mueller filed his first criminal charges against Russian nationals and businesses on Friday for what he called a wide-ranging effort to undermine the 2016 presidential election, including efforts aimed at "supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump."

The indictment charges 13 Russian nationals and three businesses – including an internet firm tied to the Kremlin – with conspiracy, identity theft, failing to register as foreign agents, and violating laws that limit the use of foreign money in U.S. elections. Prosecutors said officials at that firm, the Internet Research Agency, described their work as "information warfare against the United States" and their goal as "spreading distrust toward the candidates and the political system."

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In the indictment, Mueller charged that some of the Russians, posing as Americans, "communicated with unwitting individuals" associated with Trump's 2016 campaign "to seek to coordinate political activities." It does not allege that the campaign knowingly participated in those efforts, nor did it offer an assessment of whether the scheme delivered on its political goals.

The charges are the government's most detailed accounting to date of an effort by Russian operatives – some with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin – to sow distrust in the U.S. political system and to influence the outcome of the presidential election. Among those indicted was Yevgeny Prigozhin, a Russian businessman dubbed "Putin's chef" by Russian media.

That operation, prosecutors said, extended from social media posts meant to pick at Americans' political divisions to staging rallies to support Trump and to disparage his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.

Trump rarely acknowledges Russia’s interference in the 2016 election, and has dismissed Mueller's probe as a "witch hunt." As recently as this week, top intelligence officials told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Trump had not issued any directive to them to take action against Russia in response to the interference operation.

Yet Friday, Trump pointed to Russia's election meddling and swiftly declared vindication.

"The results of the election were not impacted," he said on Twitter. "The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!"

Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 16, 2018

Trump attorney John Dowd, who is in charge of navigating an investigation of whether Trump sought to obstruct the Russia investigation, said Mueller had done "a great job" building a case against the Russians.

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Dowd said it was "obviously clear" that "no one associated with the (Trump) campaign was involved." The White House said in a statement that Trump had been "fully briefed" on the investigation.

13 Russians charged in Mueller investigation Special counsel's office charges 13 Russian nationals, 3 Russian entities with interfering in US political process. (Feb. 16)

The charges, approved by a federal grand jury in Washington, reinforce a finding delivered early last year by U.S. intelligence services that Russia's government had ordered an influence campaign targeting the presidential election, part of which included supporting Trump.

But they do not address some of the central conclusions of that assessment, including that an arm of the Russian government hacked the computers of the Democratic National Committee, then passed unflattering emails to the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks.

Lawmakers said Friday's charges highlight the threat of Russian meddling. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., called the scheme "a sinister and systematic attack on our political system. It was a conspiracy to subvert the process, and take aim at democracy itself."

Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said the case confirms "what our investigation has borne out, and what President Trump denies – that Russia interfered in our election in an effort to assist his presidential campaign." The committee's chairman, Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said "it’s gratifying to see that Russian agents involved in these operations have now been identified and indicted."

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At the time, the intelligence agencies said they disagreed about how strongly they could conclude that the Russian activities were specifically meant to help Trump. In a report made public before Trump took office, the Director of National Intelligence said the FBI and Central Intelligence Agency had "high confidence" that Putin's government "aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible." The National Security Agency was less certain.

But Mueller's investigation appeared to leave little doubt about the motives of the Internet Research Agency. In one internal memo, prosecutors said, the Internet Research Agency told its employees to "use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump - we support them)." In another, they said it is "imperative to intensify criticizing Hillary Clinton."

Prosecutors charged that in 2014, the agency that employs hundreds of people established a so-called “translator project” with 80 employees to focus on the United States. At least two traveled to the United States to collect intelligence for their “influence operations.”

As the 2016 campaign progressed, the Internet Research Agency churned out graphics and fractious social media messages, often posing Americans to do so. And they worked to discourage minority groups from voting and to promote allegations of voter fraud, a theme Trump returned to repeatedly during the campaign.

Prosecutors said they also impersonated Americans to set up Russian bank accounts that they used to purchase online political advertisements, which were seldom subtle. “Ohio Wants Hillary 4 Prison,” an ad posted in July 2016 said. Another, in October, said “Hillary is a Satan, and her crimes and lies had proved just how evil she is.”

That work had a broad reach. By 2016, social media groups it had created around immigration, the Black Lives Matter movement and others, "had grown to hundreds of thousands of followers online."

They also posed as Americans to gather information about the campaign. In June 2016, for example, prosecutors said that the Russians "and their co-conspirators" communicated with a "real U.S. person affiliated with a Texas-based grassroots" organization who suggested they focus on politically competitive "purple states."

And prosecutors said the Russians staged rallies backing Trump's candidacy, sometimes working with "unwitting" members of his campaign and other political organizations to do so. In one case, they said, the Russians had a flatbed truck outfitted with a cage and paid someone to wear a costume "portraying Clinton in a prison uniform."

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who supervises Mueller's investigation, said that the charges do not allege that the operation "altered the outcome of the election." Nor, he said, do they suggest that any Americans knew they were dealing with Russian operatives.

The charges are the latest salvo in Mueller's investigation of Russian election interference. Last year, his office brought charges against four people tied to Trump's campaign, including his former campaign chairman Paul Manafort and his ex-national security adviser Mike Flynn. Both Flynn and aide George Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to FBI agents and agreed to cooperate with the investigation.

Mueller’s office also unsealed charges against another American on Friday, alleging that Richard Pinedo, who ran a business called Auction Essistance that helped people "circumvent the security features of large online digital payment companies," had set up bank accounts using stolen identities. Pinedo agreed to plead guilty to the charge and cooperate with investigators.

Prosecutors said the Russians continued their efforts to divide Americans even after the election concluded.

After Trump won, Rosenstein said, the Russian operatives organized competing rallies in New York on the same day both supporting and opposing him.

By the end of 2017, however, as Mueller's investigation intensified, the Russians learned that they had been exposed. "We had a slight crisis here at work: the FBI busted our activity (not a joke). So, I got preoccupied with covering tracks together with the colleagues," one of them, Irina Kaverzina, wrote in an email to a relative. Mueller's investigators obtained a copy of the email.

In it, she boasted: "I created all these pictures and posts, and the Americans believed that it was written by their people."

Heath reported from McLean, Va. Contributing: Erin Kelly and Steve Reilly.

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