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United States Department of Justice report on the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election

by Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III, Washington, D.C. March 2019.

Introduction to Volume 1

The Russian government interfered in the 2016 presidential election in sweeping and systematic fashion.

Evidence of Russian government operations began to surface in mid-2016.

In June, the Democratic National Committee and its cyber response team publicly announced that Russian hackers had compromised its computer network.

Releases of hacked materials, hacks that public reporting soon attributed to the Russian government began that same month.

Additional releases followed in July through the organization WikiLeaks with further releases in October and November.

In late July 2016, soon after WikiLeaks' first release of stolen documents, a foreign government contacted the FBI about a May 2016 encounter with Trump campaign foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos.

Papadopoulos had suggested to a representative of that foreign government that the Trump campaign had received indications from the Russian government that it could assist the campaign

through the anonymous release of information damaging to the Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

That information prompted the FBI on July 31, 2016 to open an investigation into whether individuals associated with the Trump campaign were coordinating with the Russian government in its interference activities.

That fall, two federal agencies jointly announced that the Russian government, quote, directed recent compromises of emails from U.S. persons and institutions including U.S. political organizations.

And these thefts and disclosures are intended to interfere with the U.S. election process. End quote.

After the election, in late December 2016, the United States imposed sanctions on Russia for having interfered in the election.

By early 2017, several congressional committees were examining Russia's interference in the election.

Within the executive branch, these investigatory efforts ultimately led to the May 2017 appointment of special counsel Robert S. Moulor III.

The order appointing the special counsel authorized him to investigate, quote, the Russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. End quote.

Including any links or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the Trump campaign.

As set forth in detail in this report, the special counsel's investigation established that Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election principally through two operations.

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