In sum, the investigation established that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election through the "active measures" social media campaign carried out by the IRA, an organization funded by Prigozhin and companies that he controlled. As explained further in Volume I, Section V.A, infra, the Office concluded (and a grand jury has alleged) that Prigozhin, his companies, and IRA employees violated U.S. law through these operations, principally by undermining through deceptive acts the work of federal agencies charged with regulating foreign influence in U.S. elections.
There is no denying it. There is a vast amount of evidence finding the Russians violated the USA elections of 2016. It is not only known, but it is also known the primary person responsible for the operations and it is a man that has constant contact and relationships with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The footnotes below are self-explanatory.
Footnote 106 Harm of Ongoing Matter
Footnote 107 See, e.g.,
8/16/16 Email, joshmilton024@gmail.com to -@donaldtrump.com (asking for ~Pence signs for Florida rally);
8/18/16 Email, joshmilton024@gmail.com to -@donaldtrump.com (a-kin for Trump/Pence signs for Florida rally);
8/12/16 Email, joshmilton024@gmail.com to @donaldtrump.com (asking for "contact phone numbers for Trump Campaign affiliates" in various Florida cities and signs).
Footnote108
8/15/16 Email, to joshmilton024 locations to the "Florida Goes Trump," list); 8/16/16 Email, to joshmi1ton024@gmail.com (volunteering to send an email blast to followers).
III. RUSSIAN HACKING AND DUMPING OPERATIONS
Beginning in March 2016, units of the Russian Federation' s Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff (GRU) (Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian Federation) hacked the computers and email accounts of organizations, e·mployees, and volunteers supporting the Clinton Campaign, including the email account of campaign chairman John Podesta. Starting in April 2016, the GRU hacked into the computer networks of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The GRU targeted hundreds of email accounts used by Clinton Campaign employees, advisors, and volunteers. In total, the GRU stole hundreds of thousands of documents from the compromised email accounts and networks. 109 The GRU later released stolen Clinton Campaign and DNC documents through online personas, "DCLeaks" and "Guccifer 2.0," and later through the organization WikiLeaks. The release of the documents was designed and timed to interfere with the 2016 U.S. presidential election and undermine the Clinton Campaign.
The criticism at the time was that the Clinton Campaign and the DCCC had very poor security on their computers. Who knows that? This was not a hacker finding their way into these computers, it was a sovereign government that is an enemy of the USA. AGAIN, this was the compromise of a USA election at the direction and under the supervision of a hostile power to the USA. This is serious. This is an assault on national security.
The online names for the GRU are different and unique compared to the operations of the IRA. Evidently, Putin didn't want to give away his secrets about covert activities in the USA. These hackings were not performed domestically. These were hostile acts against the USA from Russia.
The Trump Campaign showed interest in Wikileaks releases and in the summer and fall of 2016. Harm of Ongoing Matter Wikileaks first Clinton related release HOM , the Trump Campaign stayed in contact HOM about Wikileaks activities. The investigation was unable to resolve Harm of Ongoing Matter WikiLeaks's release of the stolen Podesta emails on October 7, 2016, the same day a video from years earlier was published of Trump using graphic language about women.
Russia was coordinating the release of emails with adverse events that occurred in the Trump Campaign. There had to be some kind of appreciation of those Russian efforts. Trump and his campaign were facing adverse information in the general public and what interrupts the news cycle but stolen Podesta emails. The Campaign had to know by then they were being assisted by a sovereign authority in Russia.
Trump and his campaign cannot continue to state they had no knowledge of any of these activities. This was more than coincidence.
A. GRU Hacking Directed at the Clinton Campaign
1. GRU Units Target the Clinton Campaign
Two military units of the GRU carried out the computer intrusions into the Clinton Campaign, DNC, and DCCC: Military Units 26165 and 74455. 110 Military Unit 26165 is a GRU cyber unit dedicated to targeting military, political, governmental, and non-governmental organizations outside of Russia, including in the United States. 111 The unit was sub-divided into departments with different specialties. One department, for example, developed specialized malicious software "malware" , while another de artment conducted large-scale spearphishing campaigns. 112 Investigative Technique a bitcoin mining operation to secure bitcoins used to purchase computer infrastructure used in hacking operations. 113
Russia is a desperate Third World power. It does not see it's currency increasing in value. Now, they are going to try a different strategy as if a cyber currency will disregard Russia's asset value. I suppose it can be done. Bitcoin has no sovereign backing it.
June 17, 2019
By Daniel Palmer
The head of Russia’s central bank (click here) has said the institution could one day launch its own digital currency.
Chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina told a student conference that, while such a project “cannot be realized immediately,” various central banks, including Bank of Russia, are investigating the possibility, TASSreported Saturday.
Key to the utility of a central bank digital currency (CBDC), she said, is that the technology must ensure “reliability and continuity.” “Technologies must be mature, including technologies of distributed registries,” Nabiullina said.
Another question is whether citizens are ready to leave cash behind....
110 Netyksho Indictment ,r 1. (click here)
The document is named after the first of the twelve Russians listed. The indictment is 29 pages long and signed by Robert S. Mueller III. These are the Russian GRU agents. They continued their activities right up to November 2016. They attempted to mask their identity by using computers around the world. They paid for this computer use in cryptocurrency. They used false identities the entire time which shows a real attempt to seclude the reality that Russia was behind the hacking and distribution of the stolen emails.
The indictment goes into a great deal of detail in explaining who exactly the 12 Russians are as Russian military personnel. Some of the identities talk about units within units. Basically, I am impressed by what the FBI knows about the Russian military structure and who exactly these people are and what their functions are.
"Spearfishing" is the technique used to rob passwords and gain access to computers. There were 300 people including staff and volunteers targeted by these Russians. That is very sad and scary. Until the FBI found the conspiracy and indicted them there was nothing preventing Russia from intimidation of very innocent people.
The Russians began their hacking in March of 2016. The indictment spells out every step the Russian's took when hacking and conducting research. They even explored open source information about the DNC to gain whatever online information they could that might give them a clue about the organization and how it arranged it's files.
How apropos, Kaspersky explains it online. (click here)
Let's just say as soon as Russia provided a footprint to it's presence in this crime, the FBI had no trouble finding the exact paths they took.
Item 41 is perfect. The FBI was able to trace their activities into the very GRU computers in Moscow and found the passwords they used in order to access the information Russia had to carry out the crime. MOSCOW COMPUTERS. The FBI was able to trace the GRU activity right into their own computers.
Now consider, the attempted covert identities and all the racing around the world using a wide variety of computers to hide who they were. Really, Vladimir?
Dates, times, keystrokes and the FBI has all that information.
They were charged with nine counts of aggravated identity theft, a tenth count of money laundering and an eleventh of Conspiracy to Commit an Offense Against the USA.
111 Separate from this Office's indictment of GRU officers, in October 2018 a grand jury sitting in the Western District of Pennsylvania returned an indictment charging certain members of Unit 26165 with hacking the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the World Anti-Doping Agency, and other international sport associations. United States v. Aleksei Sergeyevich Morenets, No. 18-263 (W.D. Pa.).
112 A spearphishing email is designed to appear as though it originates from a trusted source, and solicits information to enable the sender to gain access to an account or network, or causes the recipient to download malware that enables the sender to gain access to an account or network. Netyksho Indictment ~ 10.
113 Bitcoin mining consists of unlocking new bitcoins by solving computational problems. Ill 1111 kept its newly mined coins in an account on the bitcoin exchange platform CEX.io. To make purchases, the GRU routed funds into other accounts through transactions designed to obscure the source of funds. Netyksho Indictment~ 62.
continued in next entry
