When Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the latest Russian meddling indictments Friday, he proved that big news often has a Texas connection.

Twelve Russian intelligence agents are accused of hacking and meddling in a case that focuses on stealing and releasing private information ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

The indictment also provides insight into how the Russians who worked for the St. Petersburg-based Internet Research Agency meddled in the U.S. political process through social media.

Cyberattacks and interference on the U.S. political system began in 2014, and involved trips to Texas, fake community accounts and even rallies in Austin.

Here are three Texas connections of note from the latest indictment.

Intelligence trips to the U.S.

According to the indictment, Russian agents Aleksandra Yuryevna Krylova and Anna Vladislavovna Bogacheva used fake names to travel in and around the United States in June 2014 to gather intelligence for their interference operations. While they worked with two other co-conspirators, only those two agents received visas to enter the country.

They visited Texas and eight other states on the trip.

The intelligence gathering involved tracking and studying groups on social media sites dedicated to politics and social issues. Agents tracked metrics, frequency of content and audience engagement.

After the trip, they exchanged an intelligence report.

'Purple state' targets

In June 2016, several defendants in the case posed online as Americans to contact political and social activists. One of the groups they contacted was a person affiliated with a Texas-based grassroots organization.

That person told the Russians that they should focus their activities on "purple states like Colorado, Virginia and Florida," according to the indictment. After that exchange, the conspirators referred to their targets as "purple states."

The indictment does not identify the group or the person who communicated with the Russians, but it says the conspirators went under the name "Matt Skiber."

The Texas Tribune reported that when news of the Texas connection came out the Texas Nationalist Movement, which advocates for secession, put out a statement.

They say they "had no knowledge of nor any involvement with the Russian-led efforts to influence" the election.

Social media scams

As part of their effort to create influence in the U.S. political scene, some defendants in the case were tasked with creating social media accounts that appear to be run by American users.

These so-called "specialists" worked day and night shifts in an effort to make organic posts in U.S. time zones. According to the indictment, the "specialists" were directed to create "political intensity through supporting radical groups."

One of these Facebook groups was called "Heart of Texas," which also had a corresponding Twitter account called "@itstimetosecede." When Facebook took the page down last August, it had hundreds of thousands of followers.

At one point in 2016, the Facebook group had a larger following than the official Texas Democrat and Republican Facebook pages combined, the Dallas Morning News reported last fall.

"Heart of Texas" was not just confined to the online community, either.

In May 2016, the followers organized an armed protest in Houston marketed to "stop the Islamization of Texas." A second group, "United Muslims of America" advertised an event to "save Islamic Knowledge" across the street.

The conspirators also created 48 "local news" Twitter accounts, one of which was @ElPasoTopNews, which was recently suspended.