A spokesman for the Justice Department declined to comment, and the FBI did not respond to questions. Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post via Getty Images Mindia Gavasheli, Sputnik's U.S. editor-in-chief, holds a press conference in the agency's newsroom in Washington. In his letter to Justice, Fionda said he was employed by RIA Global LLC, a media company associated with Sputnik, from Sept. 5 to Oct. 19, 2015. During that time, Fionda wrote, Sputnik conducted “a perception management information warfare program” about Russia’s military involvement in Syria. He claimed Gavasheli, Sputnik’s U.S. editor in chief, asked him to “obtain the CIA Director’s stolen emails” from the hacker.

Source: Huffington Post September 11, 2017 16:30 UTC