Mueller Indictment of Russians for Illegal Political Activities

 

It appears the Ruskies began a general plan to sow discord long before Trump was a candidate. In the primaries, that meant going after the establishment candidates on both sides, in favor of Bernie and Trump. Consider Section 10 e:

By in or around May 2014, the ORGANIZATION’s strategy included interfering with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, with the stated goal of “spread[ing] distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general.”

And Section 43 (preamble):

By 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators used their fictitious online personas to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election. 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.

Then Section 43 a:

On or about February 10, 2016, Defendants and their co-conspirators internally circulated an outline of themes for future content to be posted to ORGANIZATION-controlled social media accounts. Specialists were instructed to post content that focused on “politics in the USA” and to “use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump- we support them).”

As for the actual collusion issue, there does not appear to be a smoking gun at least as far as the Introduction goes. Consider Section 6:

…Some Defendants, posing as U.S. persons and without revealing their Russian association, communicated with unwitting individuals associated with the Trump Campaign and with other political activists to seek to coordinate political activities. Emphasis added.

@gumbymark flagged the post-election pro-Trump and anti-Trump rallies of Section 57:

After the election of Donald Trump in or around November 2016, Defendants and their coconspirators used false U.S. personas to organize and coordinate U.S. political rallies in support of then president-elect Trump, while simultaneously using other false U.S. personas to organize and coordinate U.S. political rallies protesting the results of the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Interestingly, the copy released by the DoJ is an image PDF so you can’t text search it without OCR. Probably violates an accessibility law or two.

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  1. Misthiocracy, Joke Pending Member
    Misthiocracy, Joke Pending
    @Misthiocracy

    So, any time a non-American posts an opinion online about US politics, it’s criminal fraud.

    Good to know.

    • #1
  2. ctlaw Coolidge
    ctlaw
    @ctlaw

    Too bad Obama’s 2008 Gaza Strip donor base did not get the same scrutiny.

    • #2
  3. Gumby Mark Coolidge
    Gumby Mark
    @GumbyMark

    It also looks like after the election the Russians were doing social media posts encouraging both pro and anti-Trump rallies.  Their purpose all along was to sow discord regardless of who won.  Mission accomplished.

    • #3
  4. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Turns out Russian political operatives are even more wasteful, incompetent and tone deaf than Hillary’s squad.

    I read the indictment.  If spending lots of money to promulgate utter bullsh*t with no persuasive effect or electoral impact is now a crime, a lot of political pros in DC are in deep doodoo.

    The paid sleazy foreigner Steele probably had more impact than the troll farm Russkis.

    • #4
  5. Dorrk Inactive
    Dorrk
    @Dorrk

    Misthiocracy, Joke Pending (View Comment):
    So, any time a non-American posts an opinion online about US politics, it’s criminal fraud.

    Good to know.

    Rather, it sounds like running a business from within the US with a covert intent to affect US politics, and using stolen social media identities to do so, is criminal fraud.

    • #5
  6. Dorrk Inactive
    Dorrk
    @Dorrk

    making expenditures in connection with the 2016 U.S. presidential election without proper regulatory disclosure; failing
    to register as foreign agents carrying out political activities within the United States; and obtaining
    visas through false and fraudulent statements.

    • #6
  7. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    Old Bathos (View Comment):
    Turns out Russian political operatives are even more wasteful, incompetent and tone deaf than Hillary’s squad.

    I read the indictment. If spending lots of money to promulgate utter bullsh*t with no persuasive effect or electoral impact is now a crime, a lot of political pros in DC are in deep doodoo.

    The paid sleazy foreigner Steele probably had more impact than the troll farm Russkis.

    What’s interesting is the damage done after the election. The lack of any cooperation with Dems in the Senate, the cost of this ongoing investigation into collusion, and the Steele Dossier. I’d say the Russians got exactly what they paid for. Unless of course you believe that the Russian’s didn’t feed Steele misinformation, and if you believe that I’ve got the title to Lenin’s Tomb I’d like to sell.

    • #7
  8. ctlaw Coolidge
    ctlaw
    @ctlaw

    Destruction of Evidence
    58. In order to avoid detection and impede investigation by U.S. authorities of Defendants’ operations, Defendants and their co-conspirators deleted and destroyed data, including emails, social media accounts, and other evidence of their activities.

    Did they use BleachBit?

    • #8
  9. Dorrk Inactive
    Dorrk
    @Dorrk

    This report is going to feed the “Hillary wuz robbed” hysteria, but it makes no attempt to quantify if and how much effect any of this activity had on the election (and nor would any attempt be verifiable).

    My gut feeling is that this kind of trolling sways very few votes and only hardens the resolve of partisans to support their candidate more vigorously. Given the fractures in the Republican party in reaction to the Trump campaign, and the negative reaction among GOP columnists to the atmosphere of vitriolic trolling on the part of (legit or not) Trump partisans, you can probably make a case that all of this hurt Trump within his own party, but that’s also unquantifiable.

    • #9
  10. Old Bathos Member
    Old Bathos
    @OldBathos

    Doug Watt (View Comment):
    What’s interesting is the damage done after the election. The lack of any cooperation with Dems in the Senate, the cost of this ongoing investigation into collusion, and the Steele Dossier. I’d say the Russians got exactly what they paid for. Unless of course you believe that the Russian’s didn’t feed Steele misinformation, and if you believe that I’ve got the title to Lenin’s Tomb I’d like to sell.

    I don’t think the Russians caused the Senate Dems to be oppositional.  That was a pre-existing condition exacerbated by the humiliation of the Trump victory.

    At this point I have no idea where Steele got his ‘content’.  Invention?  Soviet Russian Disinformation?  Blumenthal?

     

    • #10
  11. Gumby Mark Coolidge
    Gumby Mark
    @GumbyMark

    I found this interesting in Section 34, which is consistent with what I’d heard about Russians trolling all sides of conflicts in the US (apologize for formatting from PDF):

    34. Defendants and their co-conspirators also created

    thematic

    group pages

    on

    social media

    sites

    , particularly

    on the

    social media

    platforms

    Facebook

    and

    Instagram

    . ORGANIZATION

    controlled pages

    addressed

    a range

    of

    issues,

    including:

    immigration (with

    group

    names

    including

    “Secured

    Borders

    ”); the

    Black

    Lives

    Matter

    movement

    (with

    group

    names

    including

    “Blacktivist”)

    ; religion

    (with

    group

    names

    including “

    United Muslims

    of

    America”

    and

    “Army

    of

    Jesus”)

    ; and certain

    geographic

    regions

    within

    the

    United

    States

    (with

    group

    names including

    “South

    United

    ” and

    “Heart

    of

    Texas”)

    . By

    2016, the

    size

    of

    many

    ORGANIZATION

    -controlled

    groups

    had

    grown

    to

    hundreds of thousands of online

    followers.

    • #11
  12. Gumby Mark Coolidge
    Gumby Mark
    @GumbyMark

    We also need to remember these allegations will never be tested in court.  All those indicted are Russian citizens and I don’t think any are in the United States.  I think it reasonable to assume Putin will not allow their extradition.

    • #12
  13. Gumby Mark Coolidge
    Gumby Mark
    @GumbyMark

    Section 43 alleges that during the primary the Russian focus was on denigrating Clinton, Cruz, and Rubio while supporting Sanders and Trump.

    • #13
  14. Metalheaddoc Member
    Metalheaddoc
    @Metalheaddoc

    A ham sandwich was not available for comment.

     

    • #14
  15. DocJay Inactive
    DocJay
    @DocJay

    How is this any different from what the Russians always do?

    The commiefication of our schools and universities has been fostered successfully, far more so than whatever the bots and boys did during 2016.

    • #15
  16. Richard Easton Coolidge
    Richard Easton
    @RichardEaston

    Can Israel indict Obama for interfering with their 2014 election?

    • #16
  17. EJHill Podcaster
    EJHill
    @EJHill

    Misthiocracy, Joke Pending: So, any time a non-American posts an opinion online about US politics, it’s criminal fraud.Good to know.

    Up against the wall, Maple Head. Yeah, and your little beaver, too.

    • #17
  18. Jim George Member
    Jim George
    @JimGeorge

    Question: considering the specifics of the Order appointing Mueller which was to investigate any and all aspects of the alleged coordination  between Russia and the Trump Campaign and further considering the announcement I heard on Hannity this afternoon, I assume but do not know by Rosenstein, that no Americans were involved in any aspect of any of these activities, exactly how does this have anything to do with what Mueller was charged with investigating? I know this may sound embarrassingly naive as no one should be surprised at how far afield he has already gone and how far he is apparently attempting to go in the future, but unless SOMEone puts some brakes on all this, it is easily conceivable that it could go on forever and I’m sure nothing could satisfy the Dems and the media and the Never Trumpers but this really needs to stop.

    My views and I look forward to yours.

    Sincerely, Jim.

    PS: here is the Order itself; it does allow enough “wiggle room” for this to truly go on forever:

    ORDER NO. 3915-2017
    APPOINTMENT OF SPECIAL COUNSEL
    TO INVESTIGATE RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE WITH THE
    2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION AND RELATED MATTERS
    By virtue of the authority vested in me as Acting Attorney General, including 28 U.S.C.
    §§ 509, 510, and 515, in order to discharge my responsibility to provide supervision and
    management of the Department of Justice, and to ensure a full and thorough investigation of the
    Russian govemmenfs efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, I hereby order as
    follows:
    (a) Robert S. Mueller III is appointed t() serve as Specia] Counsel for the United States
    Department of Justice.
    (b) The Special Counsel is authorized to conduct the investigation confinned by then-FBI
    Director James 8. Corney in testimony before the House Permanent Select Committee on
    Intelligence on March 20, 2017, including:
    (i) any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals
    associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump; and
    (ii) any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation; and
    (iii) any other matters within the scope of 28 C.F.R. § 600.4(a).
    (c) If the Special Counsel believes it is necessary and appropriate, the Special Counsel is
    authorized to prosecute federal crimes arising from the investigation of these matters.
    (d) Sections 600.4 through 600. l 0 of Title 28 of the Code of Federal Regulations are
    applicable to the Special Counsel.

    • #18
  19. Kozak Member
    Kozak
    @Kozak

    ctlaw (View Comment):
    Too bad Obama’s 2008 Gaza Strip donor base did not get the same scrutiny.

    How about the Saudi prince that bragged he provided 20% of Hillarys funding…

     

    • #19
  20. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    Misthiocracy, Joke Pending (View Comment):
    So, any time a non-American posts an opinion online about US politics, it’s criminal fraud.

    Good to know.

    You’re doomed.

    • #20
  21. WillowSpring Member
    WillowSpring
    @WillowSpring

    In the race to “sew discord” in the American political process, Russia comes in third behind the Democrats and the media.

    • #21
  22. Gumby Mark Coolidge
    Gumby Mark
    @GumbyMark

    Randy Webster (View Comment):

    Misthiocracy, Joke Pending (View Comment):
    So, any time a non-American posts an opinion online about US politics, it’s criminal fraud.

    Good to know.

    You’re doomed.

    Don’t worry Randy, I’ve already reported him.

    • #22
  23. Dorrk Inactive
    Dorrk
    @Dorrk

    Jim George (View Comment):
    Question: considering the specifics of the Order appointing Mueller which was to investigate any and all aspects of the alleged coordination between Russia and the Trump Campaign and further considering the announcement I heard on Hannity this afternoon, I assume but do not know by Rosenstein, that no Americans were involved in any aspect of any of these activities, exactly how does this have anything to do with what Mueller was charged with investigating?

    If you read that order you included, you’ll see that it did not pertain exclusively to the charge of collusion, but general Russian interference in the election, on which this indictment seems to have begun closing the door by isolating the matter to this one group of trolls.

    Inconveniently for the FBI, who just got shown up for failing to investigate a potential school shooter, Mueller’s indictment here makes you wonder what kind of half-assed investigation led to this October 2016 report:

    https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/us/politics/fbi-russia-election-donald-trump.html

     

    • #23
  24. Quietpi Member
    Quietpi
    @Quietpi

    @ctlaw, I’m running it through OCR now.  It should be done when I get back in an hour or two.  I’ll advise.

    • #24
  25. Randy Webster Inactive
    Randy Webster
    @RandyWebster

    WillowSpring (View Comment):
    In the race to “sew discord” in the American political process, Russia comes in third behind the Democrats and the media.

    Reminds me of the old Star Trek joke, the punchline of which was Picard saying “Make it sew.”

    • #25
  26. Gumby Mark Coolidge
    Gumby Mark
    @GumbyMark

    If we go back all the way to the January 2017 intelligence assessment by the FBI, CIA, and NSA it further supports the Russian intent was to cause disruption in the American political system.  The important findings were completely ignored by the press at the time:

    1. There had been a long standing pattern of Russian, and before that Soviet, attempts to interfere in our electoral process.  The report did state that 2016 was at an enhanced level of effort.
    2. The Kremlin had supported the anti-fracking movement in the US in order to weaken our national energy production efforts.
    3. The Kremlin had supported and encouraged Occupy Wall St [along with Obama, Pelosi, and David Duke] in order to weaken the US.

    I think a normal, curious person would have a number of questions regarding these assertions in the report.  Apparently none of them were in the press.  For instance, in addition to the Kremlin’s open support of Barack Obama in 2012 were there secret efforts supplementing this support?  Or, is there any evidence that US environmental groups or journalists opposing fracking received direct or indirect support from Russian sources?

    • #26
  27. Gumby Mark Coolidge
    Gumby Mark
    @GumbyMark

    The other thing that strikes me is that this weird conspiracy indictment against people who will never come to trial is support for something Andrew McCarthy has been harping on for months – this was really a counter-intelligence operation and should never have ended up with a special counsel.

    • #27
  28. Full Size Tabby Member
    Full Size Tabby
    @FullSizeTabby

    Richard Easton (View Comment):
    Can Israel indict Obama for interfering with their 2014 election?

    And Great Britain for interfering with the Brexit vote.

    That’s my primary bafflement about this whole “interfered with the election” concept – no one has ever asserted that anyone did anything other than spread information (or maybe misinformation). Isn’t that just normal election stuff? [There may be the stealing of political party emails, but that’s a basic cybercrime that should be normal FBI stuff.]

    • #28
  29. Larry Koler Inactive
    Larry Koler
    @LarryKoler

    Just want to understand something: This series of indictments wasn’t based on any evidence of Trump and his campaign of colluding. OK, which indictments will be based on that kind of evidence?

    I didn’t read any clear exculpatory remarks for Trump and his campaign. It’s just that so far nothing is forthcoming. Stay tuned for more later.

    Can you guys shed any light on the wording in the press briefings?

    • #29
  30. Larry Koler Inactive
    Larry Koler
    @LarryKoler

    Dorrk (View Comment):
    This report is going to feed the “Hillary wuz robbed” hysteria, but it makes no attempt to quantify if and how much effect any of this activity had on the election (and nor would any attempt be verifiable).

    My gut feeling is that this kind of trolling sways very few votes and only hardens the resolve of partisans to support their candidate more vigorously. Given the fractures in the Republican party in reaction to the Trump campaign, and the negative reaction among GOP columnists to the atmosphere of vitriolic trolling on the part of (legit or not) Trump partisans, you can probably make a case that all of this hurt Trump within his own party, but that’s also unquantifiable.

    Yes, I wonder if it just makes the poles of the electorate more encrusted and locked down.

    • #30
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