The U.S. Department of Justice has reiterated its assertion that Russians hacked Democrats during the 2016 U.S. presidential race amid new claims about foreign meddling in the election.
John Demers, the assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s National Security Division, indicated in an interview airing Sunday that he believes federal prosecutors could easily secure convictions against the dozen Russian military officers facing criminal charges brought as a result of the special counsel’s investigation into the 2016 race.
“Yes, that really happened,” Mr. Demers said about the charges. “And we believe that if we had to, we could prove that in court tomorrow using only admissible, non-classified evidence to 12 jurors.”
Mr. Demers made the remark in an interview with “60 Minutes” set to air Sunday on CBS. The network released an excerpt in advance.
Led by Robert Mueller, a former FBI director, the special counsel’s investigation for the Justice Department resulted in federal charges being brought against a total of 34 people and three companies, including 12 individuals identified as members of a Russian military intelligence agency known as the GRU.
A grand jury indicted the dozen Russians in July 2018 in connection with hacking computers belonging to victims including the Democratic National Committee and stealing internal documents subsequently leaked online. Moscow has denied responsibility.
Mr. Demers said during the interview that he would be “surprised” if the defendants were ever extradited to the U.S. to stand trial, but that prosecutors are not solely seeking convictions in court.
“The purpose of this kind of indictment is to educate the public,” Mr. Demers told CBS.
The DNC hack-and-leak campaign occurred in conjunction with other efforts that the U.S. intelligence community has assessed to constitute a Russian state-sponsored effort to interfere in the 2016 election to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s disadvantage.
President Trump has previously cast doubt on Russia’s role in the election, and he has recently begun propagating a conspiracy theory that alleges a Ukrainian company has possession of digital evidence involving the DNC hack that is being withheld from the FBI.
Senators were recently briefed by U.S. intelligence officials that Moscow has been conducting a yearslong effort to blame Ukraine for the election meddling, The New York Times first reported Friday.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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