WASHINGTON — The Justice Department has announced charges against 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking offenses during the 2016 presidential election.

The indictments were announced Friday by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as part of the ongoing special counsel probe into potential coordination between the Trump campaign and Russia.

The Russians are accused of hacking into the computer networks of the Democratic National Committee and the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton.

Before Friday, 20 people and three companies had been charged in the Mueller investigation. That includes four former Trump campaign and White House aides and 13 Russians accused of participating in a hidden but powerful social media campaign to sway American public opinion in the 2016 election. </s> Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced grand jury indictment of 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking offenses related to 2016 elections.

Twelve Russian nationals were indicted for hacking into the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton presidential campaign in 2016, the Justice Department announced Friday.

The 12 defendants, all Russian intelligence officers, "engaged in a sustained effort to hack into the computer networks of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the DNC and the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton," special counsel Robert Mueller alleged in his indictment.

Because the Russian officials remain in Russia, it is highly unlikely that they will ever be prosecuted in the United States. Nevertheless, the U.S. action follows a practice of so-called "naming and shaming" of foreign government operatives implicated in actions against the U.S.

The intelligence officers, members of Russia's GRU, released the information under the names DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.

"The Internet allows foreign adversaries to attack America in new and unexpected ways," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said.

The group also conspired to hack into computers of state election boards, secretaries of State and U.S. companies that supplied software and other technology related to election administrations.

The 11-count indictment included charges of conspiracy, aggravated identity theft and money laundering. Federal prosecutors asserted that the Russian hackers corresponded with "several" Americans. Rosenstein said there was no evidence that the Americans were aware that they were corresponding with Russian intelligence officers.

Mueller charged that the purpose of the conspiracy was "to hack into the computers of U.S. persons and entities involved in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, steal documents from those computers, and stage the release of the stolen documents to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election."

Still, the indictment also contained no allegations that the actions altered the vote count or changed the outcome of the 2016 election.

Rosenstein said he briefed President Donald Trump on the case earlier this week, prior to Trump's scheduled meeting with Putin in Helsinki on Monday.

The deputy attorney general said the announcement of the charges were made with "no regard to politics," adding that the evidence was "sufficient" to bring the case.

The indictment alleges the hacking efforts started on March 19, 2016. Hackers were able to access DCCC and DNC networks in April. </s> 12 Russian intelligence officers indicted for hacking in 2016 US presidential election

WASHINGTON (AP) — 12 Russian intelligence officers indicted for hacking in 2016 US presidential election. </s> Twelve Russian nationals were indicted for hacking into the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton presidential campaign in 2016, the Justice Department announced Friday.

The 12 defendants, all Russian intelligence officers, "engaged in a sustained effort to hack into the computer networks of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the DNC and the presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton," special counsel Robert Mueller alleged in his indictment.

Mueller charged that the purpose of the conspiracy was "to hack into the computers of U.S. persons and entities involved in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, steal documents from those computers, and stage the release of the stolen documents to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election."

These are the first charges from Mueller's probe that directly accuse the Russian government of attempting to influence the Russian government. Still, the indictment contained no allegations that the actions altered the vote count or changed the outcome of the 2016 presidential elections.

"The Internet allows foreign adversaries to attack America in new and unexpected ways," Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said.

The group also allegedly conspired to hack into computers of state election boards, secretaries of State and U.S. companies that supplied software and other technology related to election administrations.

Because the Russian officials remain in Russia, it is highly unlikely that they will ever be prosecuted in the United States. Nevertheless, the U.S. action follows a practice of so-called "naming and shaming" of foreign government operatives implicated in actions against the U.S.

U.S. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (C) holds a news conference at the Department of Justice July 13, 2018 in Washington, DC.

The 11-count indictment included charges of conspiracy, aggravated identity theft and money laundering. Federal prosecutors asserted that the Russian hackers corresponded with "several" Americans. Rosenstein said there was no evidence that the Americans were aware that they were corresponding with Russian intelligence officers.

Rosenstein said he briefed President Donald Trump on the case earlier this week, prior to Trump's scheduled meeting with Putin in Helsinki on Monday.

The deputy attorney general said the announcement of the charges were made with "no regard to politics," adding that the evidence was "sufficient" to bring the case.

The suspects, according to the indictment, were attached to two military divisions of Russia's Main Intelligence Directorate, known as the GRU — Unit 26165 and Unit 74455. In 2016, Unit 26165 operatives allegedly launched spearphishing campaigns — sending misleading emails to targets in attempts to steal usernames, passwords and other personal information — against the Clinton campaign.

Those stolen credentials, according to federal prosecutors, were used to hack into the DCCC and the DNC. At the same time, the suspects were able to "monitor" the activities of dozens of staffers and "implant hundreds of malicious files to steal passwords and maintain access to these networks." </s> A US Grand Jury indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers for allegedly hacking the campaign of 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton with the goal of influencing the election in favour of eventual winner Donald Trump, US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said on Friday. Rosenstein said that Robert Mueller, the special counsel who is investigating whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Kremlin, asked the Grand Jury to indict the Russians for having hacked into the computer networks of Clinton’s campaign and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

The Deputy Attorney General said that Russian military intelligence, the GRU, participated in efforts to infiltrate the computer networks to obtain damaging information about Clinton and the DNC, which was then dumped online, Efe reported. The accused hackers allegedly spread computer viruses through the email accounts of Clinton campaign staffers and volunteers, obtaining passwords that allowed them to access information. According to the indictment, the 12 Russians also attempted to hack into the computer networks of federal government agencies.

The Russian government has repeatedly denied that it had any role in the DNC and Clinton campaign hacking. Trump was previously informed about the indictments, Rosenstein said. “The President is fully aware of today’s actions by the department,” the Deputy Attorney General said. The announcement of the indictment comes ahead of Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. </s> Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein just announced that a grand jury has indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking into the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, and arranging for the release of internal communications for the purpose of influencing the outcome of the 2016 election.

Eleven of the 12 Russian operatives are charged with either hacking into or "spearphishing" (sending emails to trick people into providing passwords) the computer networks of Democratic Party officials; spying on network activity and collecting information; and creating fictional personas to spread the information and conceal that the source was actually Russian officials with military intelligence agency GRU. The veiled proxies included an organization named DCLeaks (which claimed to be Americans) and Guccifer 2.0, who claimed to be a single Romanian person. The hacking campaign dated back to March 2016, according to the indictment.

The 12th Russian operative (as well as one of the previous group of operatives) is charged with hacking into election-management systems on the state level, where that person is alleged to have stolen information about roughly 500,000 voters. Eleven of the 12 operatives are also charged with money laundering, as they are alleged to have used cryptocurrencies to fund their activities while concealing their connections to the Russian government; and with aggravated identity theft, for using peoples' names and passwords to commit fraud.

Rosenstein took great pains to explain that, thus far, there are no allegations that any Americans knew they were communicating with Russian intelligence officers as they went around arranging the release of the internal Democratic Party records. There's also no allegation as yet that any attempts to meddle with the election systems affected the outcome of the presidential vote.

According to the indictment, Democratic Party organizations realized they had been hacked by May of 2016, and brought in a security company to purge the hackers. But the Russian operatives managed to remain in Democratic systems until October 2016.

To distribute the stolen emails, the Russian operative created a fictitious group named DCLeaks, claiming it was made up of U.S. "hacktivists." They made up fictitious people and a Facebook page to promote the leaks online. The computer that operated the Twitter account for DCLeaks was the same computer used for some of the fake social media campaigns intended to stir up protests in the U.S.

In the summer and fall of 2016, the operatives invented Guccifer 2.0 and used "him" to release additional stolen documents through WordPress. The indictment notes that a candidate for Congress actually requested that Guccifer send him or her stolen documents related to his or her opponent, and that Guccifer complied. (The candidate is not named.) The Russians also sent stolen Democratic Party data to a "then-registered state lobbyist and online source of political news." They also sent stolen documents about the Black Lives Matter movement to a journalist (both the state lobbyist and journalist are unnamed). Guccifer also passed along files to an unnamed "Organization 1," which were then released just prior to the start of the 2016 Democratic National Convention. This seems like an obvious reference to WikiLeaks, but the organization is not named.

The entire indictment can be read here, and it is an outcome of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of election meddling. President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. People are already anxious about what could happen there. This certainly isn't going to calm anybody down. </s> A federal grand jury has indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers for allegedly hacking the Democratic National Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign during the 2016 election.

All 12 are members of GRU, the Russian intelligence agency. Hacked emails were released to the public during the campaign under the names DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 and through another entity, the indictment said.

“The internet allows foreign adversaries to attack America in new and unexpected ways,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said during a Friday press conference. “Free and fair elections are always hard-fought and contentious. There will always be adversaries who seek to exacerbate our divisions and try to confuse, divide, and conquer us.”

The case stems from Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election.

“There is no allegation in this indictment that any American citizen committed a crime,” Rosenstein said. “There is no allegation that the conspiracy changed the vote count or affected any election result.”

The announcement came at the same Trump was meeting with Queen Elizabeth II in England, with plans to meet Russian president Russian President Vladimir Putin for a summit in Helsinki on Monday. Trump has previously cited Putin’s denials of election interference, while saying he would like their two countries to get along.

Rosenstein said he briefed the president on the charges this week.

Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the time period, took aim at Trump in a statement.

“I’m pleased that the Justice Department is following the facts wherever they may lead, despite Donald Trump’s dangerous distortions and his refusal to acknowledge the conclusions reached by the American intelligence community,” she said.

Russian individuals have previously been indicted as part of the case. In February, Mueller brought a case against 13 Russians and three Russian companies who are accused of setting a “strategic goal to sow discord in the U.S. political system, including the 2016 presidential election.”

In that case, the defendants are accused of spreading derogatory information about Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, denigrating Republican candidates Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio — and ultimately supporting Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders and then-Republican candidate Donald Trump. </s> Twelve Russian intelligence officers have been indicted in connection with hacking of Democratic organizations and Hillary Clinton campaign "with the intent to interfere" in the 2016 election, officials announced Friday.

The charges brought by special counsel Robert Mueller and announced by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein come at a diplomatically sensitive time — just days before President Donald Trump has his first formal meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki.

Among the new details: the conspirators allegedly first tried to compromise email accounts used by Clinton's personal office on July 27, 2016, the same day that Trump appeared to urge Russia to go after her emails at a campaign press conference in Florida.

Rosenstein, who laid out the allegations at a news conference that began while Trump was meeting with Queen Elizabeth in London, said he had briefed Trump earlier in the week and that the president was "fully aware" of the charges in the indictment.

The court papers say that the defendants — two of whom were also charged with orchestrating attacks on state election systems — disseminated emails stolen from the Democrats through online personas Guccifer 2.0 and DC Leaks.

They used spearphishing techniques to steal user names, passwords and emails and paid for the operation with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the indictment alleges.

"The goal of the conspiracy was to have an impact on the election," Rosenstein said, adding that the indictment does not allege the Russian conduct changed the vote count or outcome of the 2016 election that put Trump in the White House.

Mueller, who has been investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible collusion by the Trump campaign for more than a year, says the 12 defendants in Friday's indictment are members of GRU, Russia’s military intelligence agency.

They allegedly used fake identities and bogus accounts to trick volunteers and employees of Clinton’s 2016 campaign and gain access to usernames and passwords that they used to steal emails and hack into other computers.

They allegedly also hacked into the networks of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic National Committee.

In February, Mueller brought charges against 13 Russian nationals who allegedly carried out a campaign of information warfare — some of it supporting Trump and disparaging Clinton — that he said was aimed at meddling in the 2016 election. </s> A federal grand jury has indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for allegedly meddling in the 2016 presidential election, charging them with conspiracy to defraud the United States, the Department of Justice announced Friday.

In addition, three defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and five defendants with aggravated identity theft.

“The defendants allegedly conducted what they called information warfare against the United States, with the stated goal of spreading distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general,” Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said.

The grand jury had been empaneled by special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election as well as any possible connections between Russia and Trump campaign associates.

FBI Director Chris Wray and Rosenstein briefed President Donald Trump on the indictments at the White House on Friday morning, a White House official said.

Beginning as early as 2014, the Russian organization Internet Research Agency began operations to interfere with the US political system, including the 2016 elections, according to the indictment.

The defendants allegedly posed as US persons, created false US personas, and operated social media pages and groups designed to attract US audiences, the indictment reads.

The Internet Research Agency had a “strategic goal to sow discord in the US political system” including the election, according to the indictment.

Russians posted “derogatory information about a number of candidates,” and by mid-2016 they supported Trump and disparaged Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. They bought ads and communicated with “unwitting” people tied to Trump campaign and others to coordinate political activities.

Rosenstein said Friday that the indictment does not contain any allegations that any Americans knowingly participated in the activity.

“There is no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant in this illegal activity,” he said. “There is no allegation in the indictment that the charge conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election.”
Twelve Russian intelligence officers are indicted for hacks in connection with hacking of the Democratic National Committee, the Hillary Clinton campaign, and state election systems during the 2016 presidential election.