New Mueller indictments reveal that congressional candidate requested stolen documents from Russian hackers in 2016
- A candidate for Congress asked Russian hackers to provide documents on their campaign's opponent during the 2016 election.
- The allegation was revealed in a series of indictments against 12 Russian operatives by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein on Friday.
WASHINGTON - When Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced on Friday the indictment of 12 Russian government operatives, the charges revealed that a candidate for the United States Congress requested information and documents on their campaign's opponent during the 2016 election.
In the indictment, which became the latest development in the special counsel investigation headed by former FBI Director Robert Mueller, described the details of the transaction.
"Between in or around June 2016 and October 2016, the Conspirators used Guccifer 2.0 to release documents through WordPress that they had stolen from the DCCC and DNC," the indictment read. "The Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0,also shared stolen documents with certain individuals."
"On or about August 15, 2016, the Conspirators, posing as Guccifer 2.0, received a request for stolen documents from a candidate for the U.S. Congress," the charges added. "The Conspirators responded using the Guccifer 2.0 persona and sent the candidate stolen documents related to the candidate's opponent."
The indictment does not name the candidate for Congress or allude to whether or not they won their election months later. The party primaries would have been wrapped by August of 2016, hinting strongly that the individual who requested hacked documents from senior Russian military operatives was a Republican.
The additional 12 indictments on Friday are yet another milestone in the ongoing investigation by Mueller and his team. So far, two dozen Russians have been indicted, while several others have faced charges for other crimes, including Paul Manafort, President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman and Michael Flynn, the Trump White House's former national security adviser.