Day 393: Information warfare.

Friday, February 16, 2018

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1/ Robert Mueller's federal grand jury indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for violating criminal laws with the intent to interfere "with U.S. elections and political processes." Mueller's office said that the government accus...

Visit WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.

Friday, February 16, 2018

Subscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free

1/ Robert Mueller's federal grand jury indicted 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities for violating criminal laws with the intent to interfere "with U.S. elections and political processes." Mueller's office said that the government accuses all the defendants of conspiracy to defraud the United States. Three defendants are charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. The indictment charges that a Russian organization, the Internet Research Agency, waged "information warfare" against the U.S. by using social media platforms and fictitious American personas for "supporting the presidential campaign of then-candidate Donald J. Trump … and disparaging Hillary Clinton." Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said this "information warfare" didn’t affect the outcome of the presidential election. (CNBC / ABC News / Washington Post / New York Times / Bloomberg)

A California man charged with identity theft pleaded guilty in Mueller's probe. Richard Pinedo is cooperating with prosecutors. (Bloomberg / CNN)

🔗 Read the Internet Research Agency indictment. (Justice Department)

2/ Mueller's investigation into collusion and potential obstruction of justice by Trump and his campaign is expected to continue for months. Trump, meanwhile, tweeted that the Russian indictments are vindication that there was "No collusion!" Rod Rosenstein said during his press conference today that there is "no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant" in the alleged scheme to interfere with the 2016 election. Mueller could still indict Americans for knowingly helping Russia. (Bloomberg)

Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for President. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 16, 2018

3/ Rick Gates is close to a plea deal with Robert Mueller. The former Trump campaign adviser has been involved in plea negotiations for about a month, and people familiar with the case say he is poised to cooperate with the investigation. If Gates agrees to a plea deal, he will be the third known cooperator in the special counsel's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. (CNN)

4/ The FCC is in...

Visit WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.