(2018-02-16) Rod Rosenstein Announced Indictments Of Russians In Us Election Meddling

Rod Rosenstein announced indictments of Russians in U.S. election meddling

Twelve of the individual defendants worked at various times for Internet Research Agency, based in St. Petersburg, he added.

There's no allegation that any American was knowingly involved in the conspiracy, Rosenstein said. Nor was there an allegation that the efforts of the defendants affected the outcome of the election.

the indictments did not allege cooperation or collusion with Donald Trump campaign.

Rosenstein and FBI Director Christopher Wray briefed President Trump on the indictments Friday.

The briefing was on the indictments and no other part of the Robert Mueller investigation.

The Internet Research Agency is funded by Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin, the indictment says. Prigozhin is a St. Petersburg-based businessman who's known in Russian media as "Putin's chef" because his restaurants host Vladmir Putin's dinners.

The Internet Research Agency employed hundreds of people for these purposes -- administrators, creators of personas, technical support -- and spent the equivalent of millions of dollars for these efforts. By September 2016, defendants had a monthly budget of $1,250,000, the indictment says.

In addition to disparaging Hillary Clinton, they denigrated other candidates, "such as Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio," and they supported Bernie Sanders and then Donald Trump. In the latter half of 2016, they used groups to discourage minorities from voting in the 2016 presidential election.

The defendants also organized rallies from afar, in New York, Pennsylvania and in Florida, for instance. They asked real U.S. citizens to help organize the rallies and offered money to some of them to help cover the expenses for the rallies.

After the election of Donald Trump, the defendants allegedly planned rallies in support of President Trump. They also planned rallies against Trump titled, "Trump is NOT my President."

In September 2017, social media companies began disclosing that they'd found Russian spending on their platforms for political and social ads, and they informed U.S. authorities of the activity, including the special counsel and Justice Department. Thereafter, the indictment notes, the defendants and co-conspirators destroyed evidence.