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WASHINGTON – The special advocate charged with investigating Russia's interference in the 2016 elections issued Friday an indictment against 12 officers Russian secret services during the hacking of the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton presidential campaign. The indictment came just three days before President Trump was scheduled to meet Russian President Vladimir V. Putin in Helsinki, Finland.
The 29-page indictment is the most detailed charge of the US government so far. in the 2016 elections, it includes a litany of Russian subterfuge operations intended to foment chaos in the months preceding polling day.
Phishing attacks to access democratic activists, money laundering, attempts to enter the elections. The indictment details a vigorous and complex effort by the highest Russian military service to sabotage the campaign of Trump's Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton.
The moment of indictment, by Robert S. Mueller III, the special advocate, added a tension voltage to the already charged atmosphere around Mr. Trump's meeting with Mr. Putin. It is almost certain to feed the conspiratorial views of the President and some of his allies that Mueller's attorneys are determined to undermine Mr. Trump's plans for a rapprochement with Russia.
The president has long doubted that Russia was behind the attacks of 2016, and the indictment of 11 counts further illustrates the distance between his skepticism and the almost unanimous views of intelligence agencies and Law Enforcement
"Free and fair elections are difficult and controversial, there will always be adversaries working to exacerbate domestic differences and try to confuse and divide us and conquer us, "said Rod J. Rosenstein, deputy attorney general, at a press conference announcing the charge. united in our commitment to the shared values enshrined in the Constitution, they will not succeed, "he declared.
It was a striking statement the next day Repub Members of Congress, screaming during a hearing, attacked Peter Strzok, the FBI agent who oversaw the early days of the investigation into Russia, and questioned the integrity of the Ministry of Justice for what they have accused of prejudice against the president
The announcement created a weird split screen on the cable networks of the press conference and the solemn parade at Windsor Castle in England, where Mr. Trump and his wife, Melania, were reviewing the Royal Guards with Queen Elizabeth II.
Russia denied that her government had a role in hacking the presidential election, and Friday, Mr. Trump said that he would confront himself directly to Mr. Putin, but the President said that he did not expect his Russian counterpart to recognize him.
"I do not think you have any," Gee, I've done it, you've got me, "said Mr. Trump during a new conference hour before the # 39; announcement of the indictment.He added that there would be no "Perry Mason" – a reference to the drama of the 1950s and 1960s in which Perry Mason , a criminal defense lawyer played by Raymond Burr, has often got people to confess. "I will ask the question firmly."
But Mr. Trump also stated that he thought that the attention to Russia's electoral interference and the involvement of her campaign were only partisan issues that made her more difficult Mr. Putin
The Kremlin is in agreement. A statement released Friday by the Russian Foreign Ministry said the charge was aimed at "spoiling the atmosphere before the Russian-American summit."
[[19659014] Read the indictment here.] [19659002] After the announcement of the indictment, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the chief Democrats and other members of his party called on Trump to cancel his one-on-one meeting with Putin
. Schumer said in a statement, was "further evidence of what everyone except the president seems to understand: President Putin is an opponent who interfered in our elections to help President Trump win." He added that "contentment with Vladimir Putin"
The indictment relies on a declbadified report issued in January 2017 by several intelligence agencies, which concluded that "Putin and the Russian government aspired to help the chances of President-elect Trump when it was possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly opposing him adversely. "
Trump has long questioned the findings of intelligence agencies, suggesting alternative scenarios for who could have carried out the hacking campaigns." It could also be someone sitting on his bed weighing 400 pounds , OK? ", Said Mr Trump during the first presidential debate in September 2016.
Friday's indictment did not include any charges that Russian efforts had succeeded in influencing The results, nor the evidence that one of Mr. Trump's advisers knowingly coordinated with the Russian campaign – a point immediately seized by the president's allies.
Rudolph W. Giuliani, l & # 39; President's counsel, said in a Twitter ] that the indictment showed "no American is involved" and he asked Mr. Mueller to end at the inquiry "The Russians are nailed," wrote Giulian i
Yet, the indictment added curious new details to the events that preceded the November 2016 elections.
The indictment revealed that the 27 In July 2016, Russian hackers tried for the first time to break into Ms. Clinton's personal office servers. It was the same day that Mr. Trump publicly encouraged Russia to hack Mrs. Clinton's e-mails.
"I'll tell you, Russia: If you listen, I hope you can find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Mr. Trump told a press conference in Florida . "I think you will probably be rewarded with power by our press."
The indictment does not mention these remarks.
Separately, the indictment states that the pirates communicated with "a person who was in regular contact with the upper limbs". of the presidential campaign. "Two government officials identified the person as Roger J. Stone Jr., a longtime adviser to Mr. Trump and the subject of scrutiny by the FBI and Mr. Mueller's team. There is no indication that Mr. Stone knew that he was communicating with the Russians.
Communicating on August 15 under the name of Guccifer 2.0, an online character, Russian hackers wrote: " thank you for having written … [h] ing interesting in the documents that I have published? "
Two days later, the hackers again wrote to the person, adding," Please tell me if I can help you anyway … it would be a great pleasure for me . Another interaction several weeks later, hackers, who still write Guccifer 2.0, point to a stolen document at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and published online, asking, "What do you think about the info on the participation model for the entire presidential campaign? "
The person replied:" [p] retty standard. "
Friday's indictment is" a great base in the narrative being built for the American people about what happened during the elections. "President Mayer Cybers Brown and the former General Counsel of the National Security Agency
.In gathering topics that Americans have been reading for years – including hacking institutions and political campaigns, spreading hacked emails and attempts to compromise the state's electoral infrastructure – "This shows that the campaign of Russia to influence the election was more coordinated and strategic than some have done credit", has said Mr. De. "This charge is our clearest window on this campaign."
The document is a portrait of a well-coordinated and well-executed attack that targeted more than 300 people affiliated with the Clinton campaign, as well as other organizations The members of the Democratic Party implanted malicious computer codes in computers, secretly monitored their users and stolen their files, which led to a series of disastrous leaks.
Investigators identified the 12 individuals in the indictment more than a year ago. investigation that was not allowed to speak publicly about it.
Since April 2016, hackers began broadcasting their stolen files using several online characters, including DC Leaks and Guccifer 2.0. Tens of thousands of stolen documents were released in stages that ravaged the Democratic Party during most of the election season.
The Russians also worked with people and organizations that were able to disseminate information, including WikiLeaks. According to the indictment, WikiLeaks wrote to Guccifer 2.0 in July 2016 to ask "everything about Hillary" in the days to come.
Most Russian intelligence officials accused in the indictment of Friday worked for the Russian military intelligence agency, formerly known as the GRU and now called the main direction.
Although many elements of the Russian plan have been known before, investigators have not yet said how Russian agents were paying for the hacking campaign. The use of cryptocurrency by hackers was one of the last pieces to set up for investigators in a case they had been working on for more than a year.
The indictment released on Friday indicated that the agents were handling the most sensitive transactions. cryptocurrency Bitcoin. The Malaysian computer server hosting DCLeaks.com, for example, was paid with the virtual currency.
Because Bitcoin works without any central authority, the technology "allowed the conspirators to avoid direct relations with traditional financial institutions, allowing them to Russian agents have had several methods to acquire Bitcoin, according to the At one point, the agents were exploiting the new Bitcoin, a process of using computers to unlock new Bitcoins by solving complex computer problems.
The Extraordinary Details of the Bitcoin The indictment raises specific questions: the Obama administration during the Russian campaign unfolded.
In many cases, the act of indictment. charge describes the actions of individual Russian intelligence agents on particular dates.The indictment does not specify whether US intelligence agencies, mainly the National Se Curity Agency, were watching in real time the Russians prepare themselves and lead their attacks against democratic targets in the spring of 2016.
It was only in October 2016 that the government issued its first public statement on the Russian intrusion. If the Americans knew much earlier about Russia's actions, they would wonder why they did not warn the targets, tried countermeasures or called Russia publicly before they did.
It is possible, however, that American spies do not detect Russia. real-time attacks, but later rebuilt them by studying pirated democratic networks and possibly penetrating Russian systems to examine newspapers.
Some experts said the detailed details of the indictment warned groups who might consider future attacks.
"Even from a historical point of view, I can not think of a case where someone has entered this level of denunciation and shame," said Thomas Rid, professor of psychology. strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University. "It's really important."
"There will be a deterrent effect on third parties," he said. "If you do this kind of work, there are now so many examples of you finding your name in an indictment, it will definitely have an effect."
Reportage was contributed by Julie Hirschfeld Davis of London; Nicholas Fandos, Washington's Matthew Rosenberg, Michael Wines and Scott Shane; and Sheera Frenkel and Nathaniel Popper of San Francisco.
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