By: Kayla Pasacreta

Trump and Putin, photo via CNN — Trump and Putin, photo via *CNN*

Just days ahead of Trump's highly-anticipated Monday summit with Russian president Vladimir Putin, special counsel Robert Mueller charged 12 Russians with hacking the Democratic Party during the 2016 election. The 12 defendants are all apart of a Russian intelligence agency called GRU, and all acted in their "official capacities" to complete the hacking. Hours before the indictment, Trump said the Russia Investigation is a witch hunt, "

“I think that we’re being hurt very badly by the, I would call it the witch hunt; I would call it the rigged witch hunt... I think that really hurts our country and it really hurts our relationship with Russia.”

At a rally on July 27, 2016, Trump instructed Russians "if you are listening" to "find the 30,000 emails that are missing ... I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press," Mueller's indictment shows that on this same day, hackers went after Clinton's personal email,

“The conspirators spearphished individuals affiliated with the Clinton campaign through the summer of 2016. For example, on or about July 27, 2016, the conspirators attempted after hours to spearphish for the first time email accounts at a domain hosted by a third-party provider and used by Clinton’s personal office. At or around the same time, they also targeted seventy-six email addresses at the domain for the Clinton campaign.”

— U.S. Justice Department

The Justice Department further explained that the hackers targeted major Democratic organizations, including the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), and the Clinton Campaign. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein also said the hackers worked with some Americans, both known and unknown to the jury, "[the hackers] corresponded with several Americans during the course of the conspiracy through the internet."

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer is calling on Trump to cancel his summit with Putin following the news, "President Trump should cancel his meeting with Vladimir Putin until Russia takes demonstrable and transparent steps to prove that they won’t interfere in future elections." Other Democrats have echoed their concerns and stated that the indictment further raises concerns about Russian interference in the 2016 election.

Still, the White House feels vindicated by today's indictments - White House spokesperson Lindsey Walters stated, "Today’s charges include no allegations of knowing involvement by anyone on the campaign and no allegations that the alleged hacking affected the election result. This is consistent with what we have been saying all along.”