WASHINGTON—Two months before Election Day in 2016, Donald Trump supporters attended a series of “flash mob” rallies around Florida. At one of them, attended by about 50 people in West Palm Beach, a woman dressed as Hillary Clinton in prison attire.It seemed like a good old-fashioned afternoon of American democracy. According to special counsel Robert Mueller, it was part of a Russian criminal conspiracy.Those flash mobs? Initiated by Russians pretending to be American, Mueller alleges, in an attempt to help Trump win. That woman disguised as Clinton? Paid, Mueller alleges, with disguised Russian funds.The allegations are part of an indictment, released Friday, in which 13 Russian individuals and three Russian organizations are charged with engaging in an extensive conspiracy of pro-Trump interference in the 2016 election.Many of the allegations contained in the indictment had been made before, either by intelligence officials or by news outlets. Now, though, they have been given the gravity of a criminal charge. Mueller’s move further undermines three of Trump’s frequent claims: that it may not have been Russia that interfered in the election, that the Russia story is a fictional invention of Democrats, and that Mueller’s probe is a useless waste.The Russians are extremely unlikely to be extradited to face trial. Mueller appeared to use the indictment to make a point: their interference was real and important, and so is the investigation into it.The Russians were allegedly working for a sophisticated organization, the Internet Research Agency, that conducts online “influence” activities on behalf of the Russian government. They allegedly had a budget of more than $1.25 million per month to mess with the U.S. Their goal, Mueller alleges, was generally to sow discord — and specifically, “by early to mid-2016,” to help Trump.Their alleged efforts included initiating pro-Trump election rallies in Flor ...
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