This article is pretty amazing when you get to the end of it, where some of the best tidbits are thrown in.
Apparently, the paid Russian trolls spreading fake news also targeted Sanders supporters (acknowledged by Sanders IT guy in article, a former Senate investigator) and also was active in the GOP primaries before it narrowed to Trump and a couple more folks.
So... it's possible they helped Trump not only in the main election but also in the primaries. Wow if true. It will be interesting to see what comes of this. This information could be what gets Republicans to investigate especially Rubio, Graham, etc.
Couple of quotes from the article:
"Mattes believes that the aim of the campaign was to damage Clinton, who Vladimir Putin saw as his arch foe, and then, after the primaries were over, to minimise the number of Sanders voters who switched their support to Clinton in the face-off against Trump.
He was particularly struck by a report on 10 August that formed part of the dossier on the Russian interference campaign compiled by the former British intelligence officer, Christopher Steele, which quoted an unnamed Trump associate discussing a Russian-driven campaign to alienate Sanders supporters from Clinton."
. . .
Clint Watts, a former FBI counter-terrorism expert, said that a Russia-driven influence campaign also became apparent in the Republican primaries.
He told the Senate intelligence committee the campaign “may have helped sink the hopes of candidates more hostile to Russian interests long before the field narrowed”.