New charges have been filed by Robert Mueller's team in the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. It's the first time the special counsel's team has charged members of the Russian government with election meddling.
Twelve Russian intelligence officers have been indicted. They are accused of hacking into two national Democratic committees and Clinton campaign employees' emails and releasing information with the intent of influencing the presidential election.
The indictment says the Russians also tried to hack into organizations involved in running elections. That includes state officials and election software suppliers. The hackers also allegedly stole information from approximately 500,000 voters, including their names, addresses and partial Social Security numbers.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein says the Russian operatives created online personas — DCLeaks and Guccifer 2.0 — and leaked the information they found either directly or through other organizations.
The indictment outlines several instances the operatives had contact with Americans through those personas. In one case, Guccifer 2.0 sent a U.S. congressional candidate stolen documents tied to a political opponent. The operatives also sent stolen Democratic data to a lobbying firm while sending stolen Black Lives Matter documents to a reporter.
Amid all these allegations, Rosenstein made a few clarifications during a press conference Friday.
"There is no allegation in this indictment that any American citizen committed a crime," Rosenstein said. "There is no allegation that the conspiracy changed the vote count or affected any election result."
The indictment comes as President Donald Trump prepares to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday. Trump was briefed on the indictments earlier this week and has said he'll bring up the issue of election meddling with Putin during the summit.
Additional information from Newsy affiliate CNN.
