Hi, this is Eddie Adne from Hylia, Florida, originally, but currently living in Madrid, Spain.

I'm on my way to the US Embassy in Madrid to drop off my ballot for the midterm election.

This podcast was recorded at 410 pm on Friday, October 19th.

Keep up with the latest political news on the MPR-1 app or on your local public radio.

Okay, here's the show.

Hey there, it's the NPR Politics podcast.

Justice Department has charged a Russian woman with interfering in the 2018 midterm elections.

It's the first such charge we've seen this campaign cycle.

I'm Usma Khaled, political reporter.

I'm Ryan Lucas, I cover the Justice Department.

I'm Kerry Johnson, I also cover the Justice Department.

And I'm for you, a national security editor.

So, Kerry, why don't we start by having you just explain who this woman was,

44-year-old Elena Kuseneva, what exactly she was accused of doing?

She's from St. Petersburg, Russia.

She's still inside Russia, and she's basically been accused of acting as the accountant

for a company that's been conducting information warfare in US elections and elections

in other countries as well.

In these new criminal charges filed on Friday, the authorities say that she was part of an operation

to target US elections up to and including these November 2018 midterms by disparaging certain

political candidates, pumping up others buying ads on Facebook and other social media sites,

and basically trying to sew divisions within the US on all those hot button issues,

...