In 2018, when then-Special Counsel Robert Mueller III accused Russian firms of bankrolling a social media-fired campaign to interfere in the 2016 election, Kathryn Rakoczy was among the career federal prosecutors in Washington who would join the prosecution team.

When Mueller wrapped up his investigation the following year, Rakoczy took on a more prominent role, personally submitting many of the briefs the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington filed after inheriting the case from Mueller. It was a case that struck at the core of Mueller’s mandate to probe Russia’s influence efforts, addressing conduct that then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said was designed to “undermine public confidence in democracy.”