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Grand Jury Indicts Russians Linked To Interference Campaign Targeting 2016 Election
By: Philip Ewing | NPR
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A federal grand jury has indicted 13 Russians and three Russian entities in connection with the attack on the 2016 presidential election.
The defendants are “accused of violating U.S. criminal laws in order to interfere with U.S. elections and political processes,” according to a statement from the special counsel’s office. The indictment charges them with “conspiracy to defraud the United States, three defendants with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, and five defendants with aggravated identity theft.”
Some of the people described in the court documents even traveled to the United States or “communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump campaign and with other political activists to seek to coordinate political activities,” the indictment says.
The charges include some of the most detail yet from Justice Department special counsel Robert Mueller about who inside of Russia waged the broad campaign of “active measures” against the United States.
The indictment follows warnings this week by the heads of the U.S. intelligence community that Russia’s active measures campaign never stopped after 2016 and that the leaders of the major U.S. spy agencies expect interference to continue through this year’s midterm elections.
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