Mueller probe indicts 12 Russians with hacking of Democrats in 2016

The following article by Devlin Barrett and Matt Zapotosky was posted on the Washington Post website July 13, 2018:

The special counsel’s indictment of 12 Russian military officers is a rebuke of President Trump’s many claims that the DNC hack and the Russia probe are a hoax. 

A dozen Russian military intelligence officers were indicted Friday on charges they hacked Democrats’ computers, stole their data and published those files to disrupt the 2016 election — the clearest connection to the Kremlin established so far by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation of interference in the presidential campaign.

The indictment against members of the Russian military agency known as the GRU marks the first time Mueller has taken direct aim at the Russian government, accusing specific military units and their named officers of a sophisticated, sustained effort to hack the computer networks of Democratic organizations and the Hillary Clinton campaign.

Deputy Attorney General Rod J. Rosenstein announced the charges at a midday news conference. Mueller, as has been his practice, did not attend the announcement. Court records show that a grand jury that Mueller has been using returned an indictment Friday morning.

View the complete article on the Washington Post website here.