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21:41 GMT
WASHINGTON, Feb 16 (KUNA) -- US President Donald Trump said Friday that there was "no collusion" as 13 Russians have been indicted by Special Counsel Robert Muller for meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections.
Trump tweeted that "Russia started their anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for the President.
"The results were not impacted. The Trump campaign did nothing wrong - no collusion," he stressed.
Earlier today, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said during a news conference on the indictments that the indictment charges 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies for "committing federal crimes while seeking to interfere in the United States political system, including the 2016 presidential election."
He added that "according to the allegations in the indictment, 12 of the individual defendants worked, at various times, for a company called Internet Research Agency, LLC, a Russian company based in St. Petersburg."
He indicated that Internet Research Agency "allegedly operated through Russian shell companies," where in 2014, the company "established a translator project focused on the United States.
"In July of 2016, more than 80 employees were assigned to the translator project. Two of the defendants allegedly traveled to the United States in 2014 to collect intelligence for their American influence operations," he remarked.
He stressed that in September 2017, soon after the news media reported that the special counsel's office was investigating evidence that Russian operatives had used social media to interfere with the 2016 election, one defendant allegedly wrote: "We had a slight crisis here at work. The FBI busted our activity. So I got preoccupied with covering tracks together with my colleagues."
He affirmed that "there is no allegation in this indictment that any American was a knowing participant in this illegal activity. There is no allegation in the indictment that the charged conduct altered the outcome of the 2016 election.
"This indictment serves as a reminder that people are not always who they appear to be on the internet. The indictment alleges that the Russian conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy. We must not allow them to succeed," he stressed. (end)
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