Dep. AG Rod Rosenstein announces indictment of a dozen Russian military intelligence officers for hacking tied to 2016 presidential election
Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announces 12 indictments of Russians in Mueller probe
The 12 are members of Russia’s military spy agency the GRU, where Russian President Vladimir Putin began his career as was an intelligence officer.
Russian hackers allegedly, intended to illegally grab documents for later use, arranging staged releases of the paperwork in hopes of swinging the campaign
DOJ announced that Russians specifically hacked into the computers of the Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee beginning in March and April 2016
11 of the hackers were charged with stealing documents with the intent of making them public “to interfere in the election
12th defendant, along with one of the other 11, was charged with conspiring to “infiltrate computers or organizations responsible for administering elections”
Targets include state boards of election, secretaries of state and election software companies
Indictment mentions US persons in contact with the Russians
Deputy U.S. Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the indictments of a dozen military intelligence officers today
According to Rosenstein, the indictment returned by a Washington grand jury accuse the Russians of conspiring to interfere with the race between President Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. Eleven of the hackers were charged with stealing documents with the intent of making them public “to interfere in the election,” the prosecutor said.
President Donald trump has consistently described the Mueller probe as a ‘witch hunt’ aimed at denigrating his presidency
The 12 are members of Russia’s spy agency the GRU, the successor to the KGB, in which Russian President Vladimir Putin was an intelligence officer.
Announcing the indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking the Democratic National Committee’s and Hillary Clinton’s emails, Deputy AG Rosenstein said: “The internet allows foreign adversaries to attack America in new and unexpected ways.”
“Together with our other law enforcement partners, the Department of Justice is resolute in its commitment to locate, identify and seek to bring to justice anyone who interferes with American elections,” the Deputy AG said at a news conference at the Justice Department.
Justice Dept. says Russians conspired to interfere with the race between President Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton [photo] – aimed at handicapping the Clinton campaign
The Russians specifically hacked into the computers of the Clinton campaign, the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee beginning in March and April 2016.
“The conspirators staged and released tens of thousands of the stolen emails and documents,” the indictment charged. “They did so using fictitious online personas.”
A 12th defendant, along with one of the other 11, was charged with conspiring to “infiltrate computers or organizations responsible for administering elections” — including state boards of election, secretaries of state and election software companies, said Rosenstein.
According to the indictment. the dirty dozen defendants “conspired with each other, and with persons known and unknown to the grand jury, to gain unauthorized access into the computers of U.S. persons and entities in involved in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.”
The hackers intended to illegally grab documents for later use, arranging staged releases of the paperwork in hopes of swinging the campaign.
The Russian operatives disseminated the stolen emails, which hobbled the Clinton campaign, on the websites Guccifer 2.0, DCLeaks, and “another entity.”
DCLeaks disguised itself as the work of American hackers, while Guccifer was supposedly a lone Romanian. But Rosenstein said they were all GRU agents.
Rosenstein warned people to avoid speculation about the ongoing Mueller probe.
“I want to caution you, the people who speculate about federal investigations usually do not know all of the relevant facts. We do not try cases on television or in congressional hearings,” he said.
“Most anonymous leaks are not from the government officials who are actually conducting these investigations. We follow the rule of law, which means that we follow procedures and we reserve judgment,” Rosenstein said.
The defendants were slapped with multiple charges, including conspiracy, identity theft and money laundering. They remain at large, presumably in Russia.
So far, Justice Dept has no evidence of American involvement and in Friday’s indictments, did not suggest that the hacking changed the election results.
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