The Coincidence at the Heart of the Russia Hacking Scandal
A new indictment charges that Russians tried to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails on July 27, 2016—the same day that Donald Trump publicly asked them to do so.
The broad outlines of Friday’s indictment by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, charging 12 Russians with conspiracy, identity theft, and money laundering in connection with hacking during the 2016 presidential election, are not surprising. The hacking of the Democratic National Committee has been public knowledge since July 2016, and even then, the authorities publicly stated that the perpetrators were Russian government officials. Other details, such as the apparent involvement of WikiLeaks and Trump adviser Roger Stone, were also known. Some of the details, however, are striking.
On July 27, 2016, at a Trump , the candidate referred to 33,000 emails that an aide to Hillary Clinton
