(VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)
Thirteen Russians, including a businessman close to Vladimir Putin were charged Friday in an elaborate plot to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election through social media propaganda, aimed in part at helping Republican Donald Trump and harming the prospects of his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton.
The federal indictment, brought by the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, represents the most direct allegation to date of illegal Russian meddling during the campaign that sent Trump to the White House. It also marks the first criminal charges against Russians believed to have secretly worked to influence the outcome.
Though the criminal case does not allege that any American knowingly participated, it nonetheless alleges a vast and wide-ranging Russian effort to sway political opinion during the presidential primaries and general election.
It alleges that Russians working in concert with the Internet Research Agency, a St. Petersburg-based troll farm, purchased Internet advertisements in the names of Americans whose identities they had stolen, staged political rallies while posing as American political activists and paid people in the U.S. to promote or disparage candidates.
The intent of the meddling, the indictment says, was to “sow discord in the U.S. political system, including the 2016 presidential election.”
The indictment arises from Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the election and whether there was improper coordination between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. The charges are similar to the assessment of the U.S. intelligence community, which months after the election described a Russian government effort to interfere on Trump’s behalf.
The Russians’ “strategic goal” was to sow discord, the indictment says, and by early-to-mid 2016 their efforts included supporting Trump’s campaign and disparaging Democrat Clinton. The charges say that Russians also communicated with “unwitting individuals” associated with the Trump campaign and other political activists to coordinate activities.
Trump himself has been reluctant to acknowledge the meddling. His spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, said Friday that Trump had been briefed on the indictment.
The charges are the latest allegations arising from Mueller’s probe and represent the first criminal case against Russians. Before Friday, four people, including Trump’s former national security adviser and former campaign chairman, had been charged.
According to the indictment, the Internet Research Agency started interfering as early as 2014 in U.S. politics, extending to the 2016 presidential election. The defendants, “posing as U.S. persons and creating false U.S. personas,” operated social media groups designed to attract U.S. audiences by stealing U.S. identities and falsely claiming to be U.S. activists.
“Over time, these social media accounts became defendants’ means to reach significant numbers of Americans for purposes of interfering with the U.S. political system,” the indictment reads.
The defendants are charged with conspiring “to obstruct the lawful functions of the United States government through fraud and deceit,” including by making expenditures in connection with the 2016 election, failing to register as foreign agents carrying out political activities and obtaining visas through false and fraudulent statements.
Some of the Russians traveled to the United States “under false pretenses” to collect intelligence, and they also used computer infrastructure based partly in the United States to hide the Russian origins of their work.
The indictment says the Internet Research Agency was funded by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a St. Petersburg businessman dubbed “Putin’s chef” because his restaurants and catering businesses once hosted the Kremlin leader’s dinners with foreign dignitaries. The company was also funded by companies Prigozhin controlled, according to the indictment.
(AP)
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7 Responses
So once and for all, both Mueller and Rosenstein have confirmed what everyone except the Trumpkopf knew, that there was massive Russian effort to interfere in the 2016 elections that is still ongoing (not some 400 lb. guy in Iran or North Korea sitting in his bedroom). While today’s indictments didn’t link these efforts to Trump, stay tuned until next week when Rick Gates, who is already under indictment, wll agree to a plea deal with Mueller and spill his guts about possible Trump campaign involvement. In the words of that old chassidesh nigun “lochim up, oy vey, oy vey.”….Perhaps a shared cell with Bibi??
” purchased Internet advertisements”
Did you see any of these advertisements? Or are you just buying the generic “interference” excuse? Whatever that even means.
I’d like to find the guy who says he was inundated with Russian advertisements (all estimated $10,000 worth), and voted accordingly. If you found one, chances are they’re making it up.
Somehow, I doubt that “everyone knew” anything. Except for, of course, Obama and Lynch who told Comey to downgrade the manner and ignore it…until, you know, “insurance” purposes.
Looks like the “witch hunt” has caught some more witches. With yet another major player, Gates, about to become a cooperative witness and Bannon’s 20 hours of testimony the nooses are tightening.
Gadolhadorah/rt, Democrats and Fake News Media count on your loyal stupidity. They need idiots like you.
either the Russians are outsmarting the Americans or the Americans are just plain stupid or maybe a mix of both, but to believe what online voices say with out real proof is downright stupid.
but then again, we are talking about Americans and most of them do seem downright s……
Wow! Can you imagine? A foreign government trying to meddle in another country’s elections? How could that be?
Oh, wait, yeah, it happened in:
2006 – when a U.S. senator used a taxpayer-funded trip to Kenya to campaign for that country’s far-left candidate who, among other things, had promised Kenya’s Islamists that if they supported his campaign he would recognize sharia law and crack down on Christian evangelical events. The guy won. Four years later, that senator – now President Obama – transferred millions of U.S. tax dollars to an explicitly anti-American government, including 2 million bucks dedicated to convincing Kenyans to vote for that new constitution supporting sharia…
2009 – Obama backed the reinstatement of corrupt Honduras president Zelaya who attempted to force his way into a presidency-for-life. How’d he do that? By freezing all non-humanitarian aid. Luckily for Honduras, its people refused to be bullied and they held new elections.
2012 – Millions of taxpayer dollars were funneled by the Obama admin, through – surprise, surprise – George Soros to interfere in Macedonian elections and bring down its conservative government…
2013 – Obama openly backed Muslim Brotherhood candidate for pres of Egypt, Morsi, and when the Egyptians themselves threw him out, he was openly displeased about it and treated al-Sisi accordingly…
2015 – when the U.S. government illegally gave State Dept. grants to an oppo group in Israel dedicated to defeating Netanyahu…again, under Pres. Obama…
But the FBI, DOJ, et al are shocked, shocked that the Russians interfered in our elections by buying a measly 10K bucks of Internet ads.
If you buy that, I’ve got a bridge in Moscow I’d love to sell to you.
Katanhadorah,
In the words of that old chassidesh nigun “lochim up, oy vey, oy vey.”….Perhaps a shared cell with Bibi??
obviously you like to nitpick what you read (especially with the headline)
WATCH: 13 Russians Charged In Mueller Investigation; NO AMERICAN WAS WILLING PARTICIPANT IN THIS INDICTMENT
meaning just like hillary where there was “gross negligence” she didn’t willfully commit a crime, even if trump did commit a crime he didn’t do so willingly!