WASHINGTON _ Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III announced charges against 13 Russians and three Russian companies Friday, accusing them of using stolen identities, fake campaign events and hundreds of social media accounts while spending millions of rubles to interfere in the 2016 presidential election in a secret effort to aid the Trump campaign.
The 37-page indictment, the first charges by Mueller's office accusing Moscow of illegal meddling in the election, says the Internet Research Agency, a Russian firm known for using troll accounts to post on news sites, orchestrated the interference campaign and that its operatives tried to communicate with at least three unnamed Trump campaign officials using fake identities.
"By early to mid-2016, Defendants' operation included supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump...and disparaging Hillary Clinton," according to the indictment.
Although the indictment alleges that the Russians contacted unnamed people in the Trump campaign, it does not allege that any high-level Trump campaign officials cooperated with the effort.
"There is no allegation that any American was a willing participant" in the Russian plan, and there is no allegation that it altered the outcome of the election, Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod J. Rosenstein said in a brief news conference discussing the indictment.
Nonetheless, the indictment seriously undermines President Trump's repeated contention that the entire Russia investigation is a "hoax" or "witch hunt." It details specific activities the Russians took, initially focused mostly on creating general discord in the U.S., but eventually focused specifically on boosting Trump's campaign.
