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WASHINGTON (AP) – Twelve Russian military intelligence officers hacked into the Clinton presidential campaign and the Democratic Party and issued a copy of the article. President Donald Trump's summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin
The indictment represents special counsel Robert Mueller's first charges against the United States of America. his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. The case follows a separate indictment of the American voters.
The 29-page indictment lays out how, months before Americans went to the polls, Russians John Podesta, the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Stolen emails, many politically damaging for Clinton, appeared on WikiLeaks in the final stretch campaign.
The charges say the Russian defenders, using a persona known as Guccifer 2.0, in August 2016 help. And they say that on the same day Trump, in a speech, urged Russia to find Clinton's missing emails, Russian hackers tried for the first time to email accounts used by her personal office.
Mueller did not allege that Trump campaign associates have been involved in the hacking effort, which Americans have been familiar with in their discussions. The White House (19659002) Trump's meeting with Putin on Monday
Trump skepticism about Russian involvement the hacking while being accused by Democrats of cozying up to the Russian president. Trump complained about the Russia investigation hours before the indictment, saying the "stupidity" was making it "very hard to do something with Russia."
The Kremlin, meanwhile, denied anew that it tried to sway the election. "Putin's foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said Friday."
The indictment identifies the defendants as the chief officers of Russia's General Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff, also known as GRU. If that link is established, it would be the Kremlin denial of the Russian state's involvement in the US elections, given that the GRU is part of the state machine.
The Russian defenders are not in custody, and it is not clear will be appearing in the American court, though the Justice Department has recently seen value in indicting foreign hackers in absentia
The indictment accuses the Russian hackers, starting in March 2016, of covertly monitoring the computers of dozens of Democratic officials
One Attempt to Interference and Hours of Truth, in a July 27, 2016, speech, suggested Russians look for emails that Clinton said she had a job as secretary of state.
"Russia, if you're listening," Trump said, "I hope you're able to find the 30.0 00 emails that are missing. "
That evening, the indictment says, the Russians attempted to break into email accounts used by Clinton's personal office, along with Clinton's campaign email addresses.
By June 2016, the defenders, relying on the fictional issues of DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0, the planning of the release of the stolen emails, the indictment alleges.
The Podesta emails published by WikiLeaks displayed the campaign's private communications, including the discussion of Clinton was a political flip-flopper. Private speeches she gave to financial industry firms were particularly damaging to the left wing of the Democratic party and among the independents with the influence of Wall Street in
The indictment alleges that Guccifer 2.0 was in touch with multiple Americans in the summer of the subject of the subject, including an unidentified congressional candidate. 15, 2016, the indictment says, Guccifer 2.0 reached out to get in touch with the Trump campaign and asked if they had anything "interesting in the docs I posted?" Guccifer 2.0 said it would be a "great pleasure" to help.
Prosecutors say, Guccifer 2.0 referred to a stolen DCCC document posted online and asked the person, "what do you think of the information on the turnout model for the democrats entire presidential campaign. " The person reacted, "(p) retty standard."
The trump confidante Roger Stone acknowledged Friday, through his lawyer, a "24-word exchange with someone on Twitter claiming to be Guccifer 2.0. "
" This exchange is now entirely public and provides evidence of collaboration or collusion with Guccifer 2.0 or anyone else in the alleged hacking of the DNC emails, "said lawyer Grant Smith.
In addition, someone at Wikileaks contact Guccifer 2.0.
The charges as a Mueller continues to investigate the potential of coordination between Russia and the Trump campaign. Before Friday, 20 people and three companies had been involved in the investigation.
Defendants include four trainers Trump campaign and White House Aids, Three of whom have pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate, and 13 Russians accused in a powerful social media campaign to sway US public opinion in 2016.
Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said on Twitter that it was time to end the investigation since "no Americans are involved" in Friday's indictment. But with Mueller still investigating,
Meanwhile, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein called for a unified approach to countering foreign meddling.
"When we face foreign interference in American elections "It's important for us to avoid thinking politically as Republicans or Democrats and instead to think patriotically as Americans," he said. "
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Associated Press writers Darlene Superville, Richard Lardner, Desmond Butler and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington, and Raphael Satter in London Contributed by:
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More AP reporting on Russian hacking: https://www.apnews.com/tag/Russianhacking
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