You may recall that earlier this week, Donald Trump extended an open invitation to Russia–hack Hillary Clinton and find her missing emails. He later claimed he was joking, but no one seriously believes him.
Well, it looks like the Kremlin may have taken up Trump on that invitation. Multiple federal agencies are investigating a hack of computer systems connected to Hillary’s campaign. An official close to the investigation told The New York Times that federal law enforcement already believes this hack has the fingerprints of Russian intelligence.
See how news of the hack broke on CNN’s “The Situation Room” here.
According to CNN, private investigators hired by the Hillary campaign discovered the breach. However, campaign spokesman Nick Merrill says that as of now, there is “no evidence that our internal systems have been compromised.”
Reuters revealed late Friday afternoon that someone had pulled off a wide-ranging cyberattack on a number of Democratic organizations, including Hillary’s campaign and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee–the group that works to get more Democrats elected to the House of Representatives. Apparently it didn’t take long for the White House to conclude that this was a state-sponsored hack. The Justice Department’s national security division is already on the case, as well as the FBI.
While the Obama administration clearly believes a state actor is behind this hack, it will likely be very guarded about specifics for some time. Several officials told Reuters that publicly blaming Russia could hamstring efforts to win the Kremlin’s cooperation against ISIS. However, they believe that in the long run, a tougher tone on Russia is the only way to derail “a continuing campaign of intrusions, attempted break-ins, and bullying.”
The Times’ law enforcement source says that at this point, investigators are trying to find out if there’s any connection between the attacks on Hillary’s campaign and the DCCC and the earlier hack of the Democratic National Committee. They’re wondering if they were part of a single cyberattack or a series of attacks.
There’s no response as of yet from Trump. I wonder if he’s proud of himself. Remember, the Kremlin and its surrogates at WikiLeaks have no regard whatsoever for privacy. If it turns out that any personal information was compromised, the Donald must be held responsible.
It cannot be stated enough–a major-party presidential candidate extended an invitation to a foreign power to conduct a campaign of cyberespionage on his opponent. In a more civilized environment, Trump would have been forced out of the race before the week was out–even if his “invitation” had been a joke. And now it looks like Russia has indeed accepted. Happy now, Donald?
