DNC Tight-Lipped About Authenticity Of Documents From Guccifer 2.0 Hack
The DNC is playing coy with information regarding the Guccifer 2.0 hack. Jordan Chariton of The Young Turks independent news network has attempted to get more information about the nearly year-long data breach, but thus far had little luck.
The U.S. government and tech security firm CrowdStrike have claimed the hack is the work of a group of Russian government operatives, though according to his own website, the hacker himself has claimed he did the work alone. When Jordan Chariton of The Young Turks asked specifically whether the documents the hacker released were real, the DNC did not respond.
Chariton asked about the veracity of the documents on Guccifer 2.0’s website, and received no response. In a tweet sent on June 17, Chariton slammed the DNC for ignoring his questions about the hack.
“24 hours later, still no on-the-record denial from DNC as to authenticity of email showing clear collusion b/w it and @HillaryClinton.”
As other commenters remarked, silence appears to be a confirmation, for if it were not true, the DNC would surely have come out and forcefully denied it. Therefore, their silence can only mean that the Democratic Party leadership have no idea how to spin this to make themselves look good.
Still no on record denial from DNC- 2 be clear, there's NO CONFIRMATION this is authentic, but DNC silence deafening pic.twitter.com/Djcw5gFgw0
— Jordan (@JordanChariton) June 16, 2016
Guccifer 2.0’s documents hack shows a clear plan to feed sympathetic reporters questions for GOP candidates, and how to “muddy the water” about Clinton’s lack of transparency regarding her email server investigation. The documents also showed plans to discredit GOP rivals by using coordinated attacks, whether real or made up. Additional documents could point to a similar against Bernie Sanders.
When I pushed back 2 DNC on its vague, non-answer 2 my question, they wouldn't provide on-the-record response pic.twitter.com/IaU9KzHjcC
— Jordan (@JordanChariton) June 16, 2016
Daily beast reporter Olivia Nuzzi seemed to inadvertently confirm the DNC’s and Clinton’s plans to discredit opponents through a recent tweet in which she criticized the Clinton campaign for pitching a story against Bernie Sanders.
“Maybe I would buy into ‘bernie bros’ more if I hadn’t been pitched a story about bernie bros by Hillary’s camp.”
Meshing with this strategy is a campaign document that Guccifer 2.0 released in which reporter outreach was highlighted as one strategy.
“Working through the DNC … we should … prep with reporters for interviews with GOP candidates, off-the-record conversations and oppo pitches to help pitch stories with no fingerprints and utilize reporters to drive a message.”
The Young Turks, and Chariton specifically, have been one of the few media outlets to perform what used to be real journalism. Most news media outlets have intricate financial ties to politicians — in this case, Hillary Clinton and the DNC.
As Inquisitr reported previously, MSNBC only touched on Guccifer 2.0’s Donald Trump hack and glossed over the more damning emails pertaining to collusion between media, the DNC, and Clinton’s campaign.
The DNC is already moving to replace Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, whose tenure as chairperson has been rife with controversy, especially during the 2016 primaries. The Guccifer 2.0 hack shows just how far from its FDR roots it has fallen. It has gone from being a party of the people to a party of the corporations, and is not much different than the GOP at this point.
Why is the DNC neither confirming nor denying the authenticity of the Guccifer 2.0 documents? The leadership has already confirmed the hack, so the next logical step would be to address the specific documents the hacker released on his personal website.
The justification that the U.S. government has given for pinpointing Guccifer 2.0 as a group of Russian operatives is due to the hack’s “fingerprints.” Ars Technica reports that documents’ metadata inside the file reveal it was edited by someone using a Russian language keyboard and had a Russian user name.
Simply using a computer and keyboard configured to use Russian isn’t definitive proof that the Guccifer 2.0 hack is the result of the Russian government, but it does point to someone who is familiar with the language.
PwnAllTheThings, an independent security researcher, noticed that the stolen data appears to come from Russian language hackers. Dave Aitel, CEO of Immunity Security, told Ars that he agrees with PwnAllTheThings’ assessment.
“I think his analysis is very believable when you look at what CrowdStrike is saying and when you look at what other people are not saying. You don’t have the FBI or DHS coming out and saying: ‘Hey we don’t think it’s Russia.’ If it’s Russia … it’s a pretty big deal. Otherwise the FBI would say: ‘We’re conducting an investigation.’ But they’re not saying that.”
Even after all that analysis, it still could have been someone outside of Russia. Anyone in the United States who is fluent in Russian and knowledgeable with Eastern European emoji styles could have gone through a proxy server to throw off security researchers.
Whether the documents released by the Guccifer 2.0 hack are authentic, the fact remains: The DNC’s servers were compromised and Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is now effectively no longer in charge. The big question Democratic Party leadership need to answer (but probably never will), is did Hillary Clinton and the DNC ensure Bernie Sanders would lose the nomination?
[Photo by Steve Helber/AP Images]
