Trump remains silent as massive cyber hack poses 'grave risk' to government

[WeToddDid2]

Doesn't have time.His last 35 days is focused solely on trying to overturn the election and raising money.

Well, Trump should have, at a minimum, checked every single line of code of the Orion update before he installed it on all of the government computers.

Furthermore, everyone knows all you have to do is go on TV tell hackers to stop it and the hackers instantaneously stop hacking.

 

[Tony Stark]

Well, Trump should have at a minimum checked every single line of code of the Orion update before he installed it on all of the government, IT companies, think tanks, etc. computers.

Furthermore, everyone knows all you have to do is go on TV tell hackers to stop it and the hackers instantaneously stop hacking.

Spending time with Rudy to overturn the election is more important.

 

[Tony Stark]

The Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, have evidence that hackers accessed their networks as part of an extensive espionage operation that has affected at least half a dozen federal agencies, officials directly familiar with the matter said.

On Thursday, DOE and NNSA officials began coordinating notifications about the breach to their congressional oversight bodies after being briefed by Rocky Campione, the chief information officer at DOE.

They found suspicious activity in networks belonging to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories in New Mexico and Washington, the Office of Secure Transportation at NNSA, and the Richland Field Office of the DOE.

The hackers have been able to do more damage at FERC than the other agencies, and officials there have evidence of highly malicious activity, the officials said, but did not elaborate.

The officials said that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which has been helping to manage the federal response to the broad hacking campaign, indicated to FERC this week that CISA was overwhelmed and might not be able to allocate the necessary resources to respond. DOE will therefore be allocating extra resources to FERC to help investigate the hack, even though FERC is a semi-autonomous agency, the officials said.

Several top officials from CISA, including its former director Christopher Krebs, have either been pushed out by the Trump administration or resigned in recent weeks.

Federal investigators have been combing through networks in recent days to determine what hackers had been able to access and/or steal, and officials at DOE still don’t know whether the attackers were able to access anything, the people said, noting that the investigation is ongoing and they may not know the full extent of the damage “for weeks.”


Shaylyn Hynes, a DOE spokesperson, said that an ongoing investigation into the hack has found that the perpetrators did not get into critical defense systems.

"At this point, the investigation has found that the malware has been isolated to business networks only, and has not impacted the mission essential national security functions of the department, including the National Nuclear Security Administration," Hynes said in a statement. "When DOE identified vulnerable software, immediate action was taken to mitigate the risk, and all software identified as being vulnerable to this attack was disconnected from the DOE network.”

The attack on DOE is the clearest sign yet that the hackers were able to access the networks belonging to a core part of the U.S. national security enterprise. The hackers are believed to have gained access to the federal agencies’ networks by compromising the software company SolarWinds, which sells IT management products to hundreds of government and private-sector clients.

DOE officials were planning on Thursday to notify the House and Senate Energy committees, House and Senate Energy and Water Development subcommittees, House and Senate Armed Services committees, and the New Mexico and Washington State delegations of the breach, the officials said.

CISA, the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence acknowledged the “ongoing” cybersecurity campaign in a joint statement released on Wednesday, saying that they had only become aware of the incident in recent days.

“This is a developing situation, and while we continue to work to understand the full extent of this campaign, we know this compromise has affected networks within the federal government,” the statement read. The U.S. government has not blamed any particular actor for the hacks yet, but cybersecurity experts have said the activity bears the hallmarks of Russia’s intelligence services.

NNSA is responsible for managing the nation's nuclear weapons, and while it gets the least attention, it takes up the vast majority of DOE's budget. Similarly, the Sandia and Los Alamos National Labs conduct atomic research related to both civil nuclear power and nuclear weapons. The Office of Secure Transportation is tasked with moving enriched uranium and other materials critical for maintaining the nuclear stockpile.

Hackers may have been casting too wide a net when they targeted DOE's Richland Field Office, whose primary responsibility is overseeing the cleanup of the Hanford nuclear waste site in Washington state. During World War II and the Cold War, the U.S. produced two- thirds of its plutonium there, but the site hasn't been active since 1971.

The attack on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may have been an effort to disrupt the nation's bulk electric grid. FERC doesn't directly manage any power flows, but it does store sensitive data on the grid that could be used to identify the most disruptive locations for future attacks.

 

[wrbtrader]

Ive never seen someone fight so hard to keep a job they don't want to do.

#WORSTPRESIDENTEVER

Is there a better way to burn down the house before Trump leaves office on January 20th 2021 ???

Let the Russians in through the back door after firing the CyberSecurity guy.

• Biden / Harris administration is going to have one hell of a mess to try to clean up.

In my opinion, they should arrest the entire Trump administration...put them on a Boeing 737 Max with their golf bags and then send them to Russia...maybe the plane will make it there.

wrbtrader

 

[Pronto24]

Nothing to worry about, Trump has Baron spearheading the operation.

 

[WeToddDid2]

View attachment 246852



The Energy Department and National Nuclear Security Administration, which maintains the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile, have evidence that hackers accessed their networks as part of an extensive espionage operation that has affected at least half a dozen federal agencies, officials directly familiar with the matter said.

On Thursday, DOE and NNSA officials began coordinating notifications about the breach to their congressional oversight bodies after being briefed by Rocky Campione, the chief information officer at DOE.

They found suspicious activity in networks belonging to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories in New Mexico and Washington, the Office of Secure Transportation at NNSA, and the Richland Field Office of the DOE.

The hackers have been able to do more damage at FERC than the other agencies, and officials there have evidence of highly malicious activity, the officials said, but did not elaborate.

The officials said that the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which has been helping to manage the federal response to the broad hacking campaign, indicated to FERC this week that CISA was overwhelmed and might not be able to allocate the necessary resources to respond. DOE will therefore be allocating extra resources to FERC to help investigate the hack, even though FERC is a semi-autonomous agency, the officials said.

Several top officials from CISA, including its former director Christopher Krebs, have either been pushed out by the Trump administration or resigned in recent weeks.

Federal investigators have been combing through networks in recent days to determine what hackers had been able to access and/or steal, and officials at DOE still don’t know whether the attackers were able to access anything, the people said, noting that the investigation is ongoing and they may not know the full extent of the damage “for weeks.”


Shaylyn Hynes, a DOE spokesperson, said that an ongoing investigation into the hack has found that the perpetrators did not get into critical defense systems.

"At this point, the investigation has found that the malware has been isolated to business networks only, and has not impacted the mission essential national security functions of the department, including the National Nuclear Security Administration," Hynes said in a statement. "When DOE identified vulnerable software, immediate action was taken to mitigate the risk, and all software identified as being vulnerable to this attack was disconnected from the DOE network.”

The attack on DOE is the clearest sign yet that the hackers were able to access the networks belonging to a core part of the U.S. national security enterprise. The hackers are believed to have gained access to the federal agencies’ networks by compromising the software company SolarWinds, which sells IT management products to hundreds of government and private-sector clients.

DOE officials were planning on Thursday to notify the House and Senate Energy committees, House and Senate Energy and Water Development subcommittees, House and Senate Armed Services committees, and the New Mexico and Washington State delegations of the breach, the officials said.

CISA, the FBI and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence acknowledged the “ongoing” cybersecurity campaign in a joint statement released on Wednesday, saying that they had only become aware of the incident in recent days.

“This is a developing situation, and while we continue to work to understand the full extent of this campaign, we know this compromise has affected networks within the federal government,” the statement read. The U.S. government has not blamed any particular actor for the hacks yet, but cybersecurity experts have said the activity bears the hallmarks of Russia’s intelligence services.

NNSA is responsible for managing the nation's nuclear weapons, and while it gets the least attention, it takes up the vast majority of DOE's budget. Similarly, the Sandia and Los Alamos National Labs conduct atomic research related to both civil nuclear power and nuclear weapons. The Office of Secure Transportation is tasked with moving enriched uranium and other materials critical for maintaining the nuclear stockpile.

Hackers may have been casting too wide a net when they targeted DOE's Richland Field Office, whose primary responsibility is overseeing the cleanup of the Hanford nuclear waste site in Washington state. During World War II and the Cold War, the U.S. produced two- thirds of its plutonium there, but the site hasn't been active since 1971.

The attack on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may have been an effort to disrupt the nation's bulk electric grid. FERC doesn't directly manage any power flows, but it does store sensitive data on the grid that could be used to identify the most disruptive locations for future attacks.

Christopher Krebs completely failed.

 

[gwb-trading]

Christopher Krebs completely failed.

Krebs is only involved with election security.

 

[smallfil]

When the theft of technology and military secrets have been going on in the US for decades, extreme liberal ET troll idiots love to lecture us when they have been complicit in the traitorous acts of our RINO and Democrat extreme liberals including, their no good appointees in the intelligence services. Now, you only have to look at the advanced fighter jets that China has which are clones of US fighter jets that we have. President Donald Trump was not even the US President then. Blame your globalist idols, Bill Clinton, GW Bush and Barack Obama. Even now, Chinese spies are being caught in acts of espionage and one extreme liberal judge excused a Chinese spy for time served? In all this time since, extreme liberal Democrats launched two bogus impeachment attempts crying, Russia, Russia when Chinese hackers have been at it for decades? So, precious time wasted, US tax dollars needlessly, wasted on a wild goose chase to promote the Russia narrative to remove a duly elected President Donald Trump? You ET troll idiots just exposed your utter stupidity and nothing else! Go F yourselves!

 

[gwb-trading]

‘He works for them’: Trump provokes disgust by defending Russia for apparently hacking US government
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-putin/

 

[Cuddles]

‘He works for them’: Trump provokes disgust by defending Russia for apparently hacking US government
https://www.rawstory.com/trump-putin/

https://twitter.com/x/status/1340333619299147781

The Russians hacked the election.... the Russians hacked the electric grid.... yadda, yadda, yadda...

For how long are the Democrats and their media outlets going to push this bullshiat?

The Vermont "hacked" electric grid turns up to be one laptop in an administrative office that is in no way attached to the electric grid that caught one instance of eastern-European manufactured (for sale) malware by browsing to an inappropriate website.

FAKE NEWS: Washington Post Blows Story About Russia ‘Hacking’ America’s Electricity Grid
http://thefederalistpapers.org/us/f...bout-russia-hacking-americas-electricity-grid

You do realize that most of these sites are funded by governments that disagree with Russia and desire to call anything that comes out of RT "fake news" or propaganda.

Keep in mind that I don't disagree with most information about Russia's role in the Ukraine. However people need to understand that RT is more trusted world-wide than most U.S. media outlets. This is a problem that U.S. outlets (both liberal and conservative) brought on themselves by becoming entertainment networks rather than news networks.

Wow... a poll from NPR finds that the sheep following the outlet believe that Trump did something illegal or unethical in Russia.

Once again the New York Times is caught being less than truthful. This time the paper published claims that can only be described as pure fiction. Did the New York Times actually think that after casting all sort of aspersions on Durham and the State of North Carolina claiming that non-existent groups contacted people in our state about election hacking that a simple investigation would completely debunk their fiction.

Durham and state elections officials object to NY Times story about Russian hacking
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article172150707.html

The North Carolina and Durham boards of elections are pushing back against the veracity of a recent story published by The New York Times that scrutinized how the boards conducted the 2016 election.

The Durham BOE released a statement on Friday calling on The New York Times to correct several points, including coverage of Durham County’s being targeted by Russian hackers. The NYT story alleged that the Durham BOE “rebuffed help” from federal officials and from an organization called Free & Fair after technical problems arose on election day related to the county’s electronic poll books, according to a statement emailed by both the state and local boards.

County officials said they found no record of contact with either that group or with federal officials about Russian hacking.


“County officials did not receive an offer for help from outside entities as stated in the coverage,” said the statement. “Many of the allegations contained in the coverage are based on remote hearsay or were otherwise unverified by election officials in North Carolina before the story was published.”

After the election, the county turned over equipment and computers to the N.C. State Board of Elections for independent analysis as part of an ongoing investigation of issues that arose on Nov. 8.

“Neither Durham County or the Durham County Board of Elections, its members or its staff ever was warned prior to the 2016 election of any potential hacking by anyone, including Russia,” said Durham County Board of Elections chair Bill Brian. “Even now, Durham County officials are not aware of any evidence that would suggest a hacking, Russian or otherwise.”

The electronic poll books run on a separate computer system than vote-counting machines. The release said that problems arose with the electronic poll books after about three-quarters of the votes had been cast.

The county board of elections said it was not aware of any hacking aimed at the e-poll books before June. After information leaked about the report the board had sent to the state and the NC BOE then launched its own investigation into possible hacking. The state board requested assistance from the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI.

The state board also sent a letter to the New York Times, calling its article’s allegation of cyberhacking in Durham County unconfirmed.

“The implication that the State or County Board of Elections rejected federal assistance is unfounded and damaging,” according to a letter from NC State Board of Elections executive director for elections and ethics enforcement Kim Strach.

While media pundits on the left may propose it "is illegal for President elect Trump to interfere with President Obamas foreign policy" - the reality is that President elects have been reaching out to foreign governments since the beginning of U.S. history to discuss policies. Many times the incoming administration will drive policy in a different direction - there is nothing illegal about reaching out to discuss this with foreign diplomats.

There is no evidence whatsoever at this point in time which states that campaign leaders met with Russians to take any measures to hinder Hillary's campaign. She lost solely due to sucking as a candidate.

The liberal spin machine is going to chase its merry tail on their fantasies regarding Flynn - however everything he did regarding his activity contacting the Russians is legal. The reality is that there seems to be a limited path forward for this investigation beyond indicting Kushner if he lied to the FBI as well. Unless more solid evidence comes forward. Only time will tell.

The left is working itself into a tizzy over the claims from a jailed hooker living in a cage...

Here is the CNN top story.

Jailed Russian 'sex coaches' offer to trade election info for US asylum
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/05/asia/thailand-sex-guru-deportation-russia-intl/index.ht

From behind bars in a sweltering immigration detention center in Bangkok, a self-styled "sex coach" who claims to have detailed insider knowledge of Russian meddling in the US election says she wants to cooperate with US investigators.

The catch? She says the US government needs to grant her political asylum.

Belarus-born Anastasia Vashukevich claims she has proof of Russian interference in the 2016 US election in the form of more than an hour of audio recordings and photos of meetings.

"I am ready to help with an investigation if they help us get out of here," says the petite 21-year old.

None of the alleged recordings or photos of those meetings have been made public.

'A plan for the election'

Vashukevich's arrival in this Thai detention center is a bizarre and tangled saga.

Vashukevich, who also goes by the pseudonym Nastya Rybka, was part of a group led by author and free sex advocate Alexander Kirillov arrested in February in the Thai resort town of Pattaya while running so-called "sex training" sessions.

Thai police confirmed they are processing the paperwork for the eventual deportation of Vashukevich and Kirillov on charges relating to visa violations, back to Russia.

On Monday CNN met with Vashukevich and Kirillov inside the detention center. The scene was chaotic, loud and miserably hot.

Vashukevich spoke through bars within touching distance of Kirillov, who stood barefoot with other male prisoners behind a second row of bars.

Vashukevich, who claims to be the former mistress of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, says she witnessed several meetings in 2016 and 2017 between Deripaska and at least three un-named Americans.

Deripaska -- who denies any affair -- is a subject of political intrigue in US political circles, owing to his longstanding relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"They had a plan for the election," says Vashukevich of the men.

When he was confronted by CNN last year, Deripaska called allegations that he may have been a back channel from the Kremlin to the Trump campaign "fake news."

Regarding his alleged relationship with Vashukevich, a spokesperson for Deripaska told CNN: "This is clearly an attempt by Anastasia Vashukevitch (aka Nastya Rybka) to politicize the accusations of the Thai police. There have been endless fictitious stories told by her, all serving to distract the public from real violations, including very serious breaches of law of many countries."

Vashukevich says she has photos of one of the Americans meeting with Deripaska, as well as more than an hour of audio recordings.

But she refuses to name the Americans.

Vashukevich and Kirillov told CNN they are afraid to reveal potentially compromising information, in the event they are deported back to Russia.

They have made public appeals to the US government to speak to them, but they say so far no US official has visited them in jail.

"If I was an ambassador and there was information affecting the country I love and I didn't do anything, it would be very silly," Vashukevich told CNN.

'A matter of life or death'

Back outside the detention center, Pavlo Yunko, a Ukrainian-American tourist who says he paid around $400 to attend Vashukevich and Kirillov's week-long "sex training" course, described the predicament now facing the pair as "a matter of life and death."

Yunko claims to have been passed a hand-written note from Kirillov shortly after his arrest, which he says he personally delivered to an official at the US Embassy in Bangkok.

"We ask you political asylim [sic] and help us and protect us as quickly as possible, because we have very important information for USA and we risk our lives very much," read the note.
"We have photo-video-audio of crymes [sic] of Russian government and I give them USA if you help us," he added.

Jillian Bonnardeaux, a spokesperson for the US Embassy in Bangkok, told CNN on Monday she was aware of media reports of the arrests and the letter seeking asylum, but referred inquiries to Thai law enforcement.

"We refer all inquiries about asylum and asylum procedures to the DHS," Bonnardeaux added, referring to the US Department of Homeland Security.

Strange days are these

Vashukevich came into the spotlight after publishing footage from social media of a 2016 meeting on a private yacht between Deripaska and Russian deputy prime minister Sergey Prikhodko, during which the two men could be heard discussing Russia's poor relationship with the United States.

Deripaska is an ex-business associate of former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.
Manafort, who provided investment and consulting services to Deripaska, worked for the Russian billionaire about a decade ago, according to both men.

According to emails described to The Washington Post, Manafort, through an intermediary, offered to provide Deripaska with "private briefings" about the state of the Trump campaign.
Speaking to CNN, a spokesperson for Deripaska denied allegations that the billionaire received any communications regarding private briefings.

Manafort's spokesman told the Post that any briefing offered on the state of the campaign would have been "routine," but that no briefings took place.

While on the way to detention in Thailand, Vashukevich published a video on her Instagram account begging US journalists to help her.

"I'm ready to give you all the missing puzzle pieces, support them with videos and audios, regarding the connections of our respected lawmakers with Trump, Manafort and the rest. I know a lot. I'm waiting for your offers and I'm waiting for you in a Thai prison," she said.
On Monday, speaking inside the detention center, Kirillov repeated this claim, saying he had seen photos of one of the unnamed Americans meeting with Deripaska.

Kirillov claims he tried and failed through a friend to contact the FBI while in Dubai in February. He also says he planned to travel to the US to try to meet with US officials after the week-long "sex training course" he ran in Pattaya. Those plans were foiled when Thai police burst into the last session of the sex course.

Free sex advocates

The claims made by Vashukevich and Kirillov might not normally hold much water.

Both describe themselves as free sex advocates whose Instagram feeds are full of scantily clad photos of themselves cavorting with other half-naked young women.

But allegations and revelations of an affair Vashukevich made in her book "Diary of the Seduction of a Billionaire" gained traction thanks to an investigation by the Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

In his video, Navalny revealed that the un-named oligarch in the book was Russian industrialist Oleg Deripaska. Navalny highlighted social media posts from Vashukevich showing her next to Deripaska on a yacht alongside the Russian deputy prime minister Sergey Prikhodko.

Asked about Navalny's investigation, Vashukevich told CNN "it was all correct."
In the Thai jail, Vashukevich and Kirillov looked uncomfortable and desperate. They said conditions were over-crowded and miserable. They relied on food brought in every other day by friends.

The lawyer representing them says she was surprised at how long it was taking to deport the jailed "sex coaches."

"Normally my clients are deported in one or two days," said Elena Fominykh, a Russian-speaking legal advisor and private investigator based in Bangkok.

'Sexual revolutionary'

The arrests of the pair are a worrying turn for a group of Russian-speaking acolytes of Kirillov, author of books "Life Without Panties" and "The Game of Master and Huntress."

On Monday, Ukrainian native Maria Skulbeda waited outside the detention center in the sweltering heat in the hopes of arranging an appointment to meet Kirillov and Vashukevich.

The 21-year-old Skulbeda described Kirillov as a kind of sexual revolutionary, who teaches his followers a belief system of "freedom, sex and love" that revolves around the art of seduction.

"I am an employee, I am a friend, I am a lover," said Skulbeda, of her relationship with Kirillov.

Deripaska, she said, was well known within the group to be a target of seduction by Vashukevich.

A spokesperson for Deripaska denied claims he was romantically involved with Vashukevich.
Now, Skulbeda fears what may happen if her friends are deported to Russia.

"First, they are in danger. Second, they have information, and third, we are afraid for their lives."

Stone is already out of jail on bond... there is not reasonable explanation of why the FBI had to drag him out of his home in the early morning hours when his attorney already agreed that he would immediately turn himself in if indicted. You can only assume that Mueller's and the FBI's actions were only intended to drum up the media circus.

Trump confidant Stone is arrested, says he's falsely accused
https://www.wral.com/trump-associate-stone-arrested-faces-obstruction-charge/18147089/

Shouting "FBI, open the door," authorities arrested Roger Stone, a confidant of President Donald Trump, before dawn Friday in a criminal case that revealed that senior members of the Trump campaign sought to benefit from the release of hacked emails damaging to Hillary Clinton.

The seven-count indictment against Stone, a self-proclaimed "dirty trickster" with a long history with Trump, is the first criminal case in months from special counsel Robert Mueller. Stone appeared at court in shackles later in the morning, did not enter a plea and was released on a $250,000 bond.

Outside court, he raised his arms, formed "V'' signs with his fingers and blasted the special counsel's Russia probe as "politically motivated." Stone vowed to fight the charges, saying he was "falsely accused" of making false statements to the House intelligence committee. He said any error he made in his testimony wasn't intentional.

The indictment provides the most detail to date about how Trump campaign associates in the summer of 2016 actively sought the disclosure of emails the U.S. says were hacked by Russia, then provided to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. It alleges that unidentified senior Trump campaign officials contacted Stone to ask when stolen emails relating to Clinton might be disclosed.

Prosecutors did not charge Stone with conspiring with WikiLeaks or with the Russian officers Mueller says hacked the emails. Instead it mirrors other Mueller cases in alleging cover-ups and deception, accusing Stone of lying to lawmakers about WikiLeaks, tampering with witnesses and obstructing a congressional probe into whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to tip the election.

Some of those false statements were made to the House intelligence committee, prosecutors allege.

In referring to Trump campaign officials and their desire to leverage hacked emails, the case brings Mueller's investigation into the president's inner circle but it does not accuse the president of any wrongdoing or reveal whether he had advance knowledge of the WikiLeaks trove.

CNN aired video of the raid at Stone's Fort Lauderdale, Florida, home, showing agents in body armor using large weapons and night-vision equipment, running up to the home and banging on the door.

"FBI open the door!" one shouts. "FBI, warrant!" Stone could then be seen in the doorway in his sleepwear before he was led away.

Though not uncommon for the FBI to make early-morning arrests of targets under indictment, it's the first time Mueller has used that tactic. Stone had been predicting his indictment for some time.

Hours later, he appeared in court in a blue polo shirt and jeans. In releasing him on bond, a magistrate judge restricted Stone's travel to South Florida, Washington and New York City and ordered him to avoid contact with witnesses.

Stone is the sixth Trump aide or adviser charged by Mueller and the 34th person overall. The nearly two-year-old probe has exposed multiple contacts between Trump associates and Russia during the campaign and transition period and revealed efforts by several to conceal those communications.

The case comes weeks after Trump's former national security adviser, Michael Flynn , was castigated by a judge in open court and just hours before Paul Manafort , his ex-campaign chairman, appeared on allegations that he had lied to prosecutors.

Sarah Sanders, Trump's press secretary, said the charges brought against Stone "don't have anything to do with the president." Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said the indictment "does not allege Russian collusion by Roger Stone or anyone else."

Trump on Friday called the investigation the "Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country!"

Well-known for his political antics and hard ball tactics, Stone has reveled in being a Washington wheeler-dealer dating back to the Nixon administration. He has also pushed several conspiracy theories and was an early and vocal supporter of Trump's candidacy.

Stone was one of Trump's earliest political advisers, encouraging both his presidential runs. He briefly served on Trump's campaign, but was pushed out amid infighting with then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Stone continued occasionally communicating with Trump and stayed plugged into his circle of advisers, both formal and informal.

The indictment says Stone repeatedly discussed WikiLeaks with campaign associates and lays out in detail Stone's conversations about stolen Democratic emails posted in the weeks before Trump beat Clinton. Mueller's office has said those emails, belonging to Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, were hacked by Russian intelligence officers.

The document says that by June and July 2016, Stone had told senior Trump campaign officials that he had information indicating that WikiLeaks had obtained documents that could be damaging to Clinton's campaign.

After the July 22, 2016, WikiLeaks release of hacked emails from the Democratic National Committee, the indictment says, a senior Trump campaign official "was directed" to contact Stone about additional releases and "what other damaging information" WikiLeaks had "regarding the Clinton campaign." The indictment does not name the official or say who directed the outreach to Stone.

Though no officials are identified by name, one Trump campaign aide cited in the case is Steve Bannon, who later became Trump's chief White House strategist. Bannon, referred to as a "high-ranking Trump Campaign official," exchanged emails with Stone in October 2016 about WikiLeaks' plans. The indictment quotes from those emails, which had previously been made public by news outlets.

While the indictment provides some new insight into the Trump campaign, it deals largely with what prosecutors say were Stone's false statements about his conversations with conservative writer and conspiracy theorist, Jerome Corsi, and New York radio host, Randy Credico.

The indictment accuses Stone of carrying out a "prolonged effort" to keep Credico from contradicting his testimony before the House intelligence committee. During that effort, prosecutors note that Stone repeatedly told Credico to "do a 'Frank Pentangeli,'" a reference to a character in "The Godfather: Part II" who lies before Congress.

Stone is also accused of threatening Credico, including through messages in which he called him "rat" and "stoolie" and accused him of backstabbing his friends. Stone also threatened to "take that dog away from you," a reference to Credico's dog, Bianca.

"I am so ready. Let's get it on. Prepare to die (expletive)," Stone also wrote to Credico.

Stone has said for months he was prepared to be charged, though he has denied any wrongdoing. A grand jury had heard from witnesses connected to Stone. And the intelligence committee last year voted to release a transcript of Stone's testimony to Mueller as a precursor to an indictment.

Stone has publicly denigrated the Mueller investigation and echoed the president's descriptions of it as a witch hunt.

But he has long attracted scrutiny, especially because of a 2016 tweet — "It will soon (be) Podesta's time in the barrel — that appeared to presage knowledge that Podesta's emails would soon be released. Stone has said he had no inside information about the contents of the emails or the timing of when they'd be released.

In a tweet Friday, Podesta turned Stone's words against him by writing that it was now "Roger's time in the barrel."

Stone has said he learned from Credico that WikiLeaks planned to disclose the emails. Stone has also spoken openly about his contacts with Corsi.

Credico hasn't been accused of any wrongdoing. Last year, Mueller's prosecutors offered a plea agreement to Corsi that would have required him to admit that he lied about discussing WikiLeaks with Stone. He rejected the offer and denied he lied.