According to a 37-page federal grand-jury indictment returned today, the effort by the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 elections and to promote the election of Donald Trump was significantly more substantial than previously understood.
The indictment levels charges of conspiracy to defraud against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities, and outlines a project that began as early as 2013 or 2014.
It allegedly involved hundreds of employees and the expenditure of millions of dollars, with a budget of $1.2 million in September of 2016 alone. Eighty people were employed on day and night shifts to broadcast pro-Trump messages via social media.
The highly organized effort apparently included attempts to interfere on Trump’s behalf not just in the general election but in the 2016 Republican nominating process as well. According to the indictment, “they engaged in operations primarily intended to communicate derogatory information about Hillary Clinton, to denigrate other candidates such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and to support Bernie Sanders and then-candidate Donald Trump.”
Several leaders of the Russia operation even came to the United States to gather intelligence on how best to target their efforts. According to the indictment, one alleged Russian co-conspirator “traveled to Atlanta, Ga., from Nov. 26, 2014 to Nov. 30, 2014,” but the document is silent about the alleged co-conspirator’s activities or meetings here.
The initiative, headquartered in St. Petersburg, Russia, included an in-house graphics department, a search-engine optimization (SEO) department, a data analysis department and a finance department. Through stolen and false identies, it bought ads on Facebook and other media. It sponsored and organized rallies in Florida, Texas and New York. It hired actors to march in pro-Trump parades, including a woman to portray Hillary Clinton dressed in a prison uniform.
It also communicated with and financially supported local pro-Trump groups, but the indictment makes clear that in those cases, any cooperation with Russian efforts by Americans was unwitting.
The indictment makes no charge that any Americans were witting participants in the conspiracy, leaving that question open. It also notes that the efforts continued after the election, with Russians promoting both pro-Trump and anti-Trump rallies. There is no evidence of anti-Trump activities prior to his victory.
Clearly, given the scale, expense and manpower dedicated to the effort, this was no hoax, as Trump has tried to describe it. Clearly, for whatever reason, the Russians latched onto Trump as their preferred candidate very early in the process, and supported him through the primaries and into the general election.
These 16 Russia indictments also make it far more difficult for Trump to now try to intervene into or short-circuit the investigation being run by special counsel Robert Mueller. To take such a step at this point would be seen -- properly so -- as an effort to intervene on behalf of the very Russians who went through a lot of trouble trying to get him elected.
UPDATE at 3:45 p.m.
President Trump has tweeted his response:
Note the utter lack of presidential concern or anger at Russia's blatant intervention. Trump offers no commitment to prevent it in the future, or to punish Russia. He issues no condemnation of Russia’s violation of our national sovereignty.
It is bizarre, especially coming from the nominal commander in chief.
Here is the official White House statement, courtesy of Jamie Dupree:
Let’s set aside the complaint about “outlandish partisan attacks, wild and false allegations and far-fetched theories” coming from the Trump White House. Let’s instead focus on the fact that at this serious moment in U.S. history, on a grave subject, it still cannot bring itself to speak truthfully to American citizens.
The indictment says nothing about possible collusion. It says nothing about whether Russian intervention changed the outcome. It is silent, and appropriately so, on both counts.
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