Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigations are preparing a case against the Russians who are believed to have hacked into Democratic email accounts during the 2016 campaign and then leaked the material.
Such a legal action might appear to be an obvious response to the intrusion, but the issue involves competing factors relating to timing, extradition, and intelligence sources and methods.
Potential charges include conspiracy, violations of U.S. elections laws, and the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, NBC news reported as it revealed the possible criminal offenses being pursued against the Russians.
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigations are preparing a case against the Russians who hacked into Democratic emails during the 2016 campaign and then leaked the material
Sources offered competing views on the timing, with one telling the network that they were not imminent, but another saying charges could come in weeks or months.
Last month, deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein announced the indictment of 13 Russians for election meddling. But these figures, the leader and members of a notorious Russian troll farm, were allegedly focused on fake Facebook accounts, purchasing web ads, and stirring up controversy through rallies and divisive posts and retweets.
They were not charged with carrying out the hack, or with passing the information to WikiLeaks, which published the emails the U.S. intelligence community concluded were hacked by Russians.
WikiLeaks denied getting the material from Russia.
Last month, deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein announced the indictment of 13 Russians for election meddling
Last month, deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein announced the indictment of 13 Russians for election meddling, but Mueller has yet to charge those who carried out hacking of Democratic accounts
Intelligence agencies have handed over to the FBI materials related to the hack.
Other possibilities include Mueller filing a sealed indictment or failing to bring charges, due to potential concerns about compromising sources and methods of information gathering.
It would be difficult for U.S. authorities to extradite Russians who get charged in order to bring them here for trial. Extradition would require both the cooperation from the Russian government and pressure from the administration. President Trump only signed Russia sanctions legislation that passed Congress overwhelmingly.
According to the October 7 statement released by the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence weeks before the elections: ‘The U.S. Intelligence Community (USIC) is confident that the Russian Government directed the recent compromises of e-mails from US persons and institutions, including from US political organizations.’
It is unclear how high up any charges of Russians might go. U.S. intelligence believes it was ordered from the highest levels of the Russian government
John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chair, had his emails hacked during the 2016 campaign
The statement continued: ‘The recent disclosures of alleged hacked e-mails on sites like DCLeaks.com and WikiLeaks and by the Guccifer 2.0 online persona are consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed efforts. These thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the US election process.’
The joint statement continued: ‘Such activity is not new to Moscow—the Russians have used similar tactics and techniques across Europe and Eurasia, for example, to influence public opinion there. We believe, based on the scope and sensitivity of these efforts, that only Russia’s senior-most officials could have authorized these activities.’
It is not known how high up the chain of command prosecutors would seek to go to charge more senior figures who authorized or paid for the hacking.