A grand jury indictment in special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe suggests Russian nationals visited Texas in 2014 and communicated with someone associated with a Texas-based grassroots organization.
The indictment fails to name the Texas group, but Dwayne Wright with the San Jacinto County Republican Party says a photo of his was shared by the web-based group "Heart of Texas."
“Facebook and Twitter, they have all these restrictive terms of services that they use, so it's flattering on one hand and disturbing on another,” he says.
“We need money from the Russians to not like Hillary Clinton, and our messaging was on point without any kind of communication with the Russians, it's actually very laughable.”
Dan Miller at the Texas Nationalist Movement says the indictment cast a cloud over all conservative groups in Texas.
“Mueller's team and the Department of Justice did a tremendous disservice to all grassroots organizations here in Texas by not specifying which organization it was,” he says.
The indictment also suggests Russian nationals spread derogatory information against Sen. Ted Cruz during the Republican primary.
“It wasn't isolated just to Texas, it was Black Lives Matter groups and both on the left side and right side of the spectrum,” says Miller. “I don't know that it should cast any aspersions against Texas, it's just the way that it shook down for us.”