The Russian election meddling story is real news. That’s the message sent by special counsel Robert Mueller’s surprise charges against thirteen Russian nationals on Friday afternoon. The 37-page indictment describes a deliberate campaign by the Russia-based Internet Research Agency and its associates to exploit Americans’ political divides, damage Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid, and bolster President Donald Trump’s candidacy.

“The indictment alleges that the Russian conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said in a press conference. “We must not allow them to succeed.”

That directly contradicts more than a year of denials and obfuscations from President Trump and his political allies, who have tried to cast the investigation into Russian meddling as a “hoax” and “witch hunt” orchestrated by Democrats bitter about their surprise defeat in 2016. Trump himself has lead the charge in attacking the investigation’s credibility, especially on Twitter.

The Russia hoax continues, now it's ads on Facebook. What about the totally biased and dishonest Media coverage in favor of Crooked Hillary? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 22, 2017

Ironically, Twitter and other social media outlets, notably Facebook, were the primary vector for Russian disinformation. Mueller’s indictment depicts a broad-ranging conspiracy to inflame the nation’s social and cultural fault lines by impersonating Americans on social media “to sow discord in the U.S. political system, including the 2016 presidential election.” The Russians’ operations “included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump ... and disparaging Hillary Clinton.”

Some of the details in the indictment had been previously reported by news outlets. Nonetheless, the breadth of Russian meddling is staggering to behold. According to the indictment, conspirators bought paid advertisements targeting Clinton, as well as Florida Senator Marco Rubio and Texas Senator Ted Cruz, with derogatory attacks. They posed as Black Lives Matter activists, Muslim and Christian groups, and separatist organizations in Texas and other Southern states. And they urged Americans to vote for third-party candidates like Jill Stein or not vote at all.