The alleged hack that revealed thousands of emails that appeared to show internal bias within the Democratic National Committee is being investigated by the FBI, the bureau said in a statement on July 25.
“The FBI is investigating a cyber intrusion involving the DNC and are working to determine the nature and scope of the matter,” the FBI said in the statement, according to Politico. “A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously, and the FBI will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace.”
More than 19,000 emails between January 2015 and May of this year were hacked and anonymously submitted to WikiLeaks, who released the first batch on July 22, right before the Democratic National Convention.
The email exchanges between seven top figures, among other issues, appear to show intent to sabotage former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, including painting him as someone who is religiously fickle.
In one email exchange between the DNC Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall to the DNC CEO Amy Dacey, Marshall stated: “Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps. My Southern Baptist peeps would draw a big difference between a Jew and an atheist,” to which Dacey responded: “AMEN.”
Speculation as to who is behind the cyber attack has pointed to Russia, Donald Trump’s campaign team, and a hacker with the handle “Guccifer 2.0.”
Trump’s son, Donald Jr, defended his father, denying all claims he had any role in the hacking—including that the Kremlin and Trump are working in cahoots to ensure a presidential bid.
“I can’t think of bigger lies, but that exactly goes to show you what the DNC and what the Clinton camp will do,” the younger Trump told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” Sunday. “They will lie and do anything to win. You hear with the DNC where they’re leaking emails about Bernie Sanders and his jewish heritage, its a rig system.”
Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager Robby Mook believes otherwise, citing Trump’s declaration that he might not support NATO nations if Russia attacked, unless it fulfilled its contributions to the United States.
In an interview with Tapper on July 24 Mook stated, “Experts are telling us that Russian state actors broke into the DNC, stole these e-mails. And other experts are now saying that the Russians are releasing these e-mails for the purpose of actually helping Donald Trump. I don’t think it’s coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention here, and I think that’s disturbing.”
In response to allegations, Trump referred to such statements as a joke on Twitter.
“The new joke in town is that Russia leaked the disastrous DNC e-mails, which should never have been written (stupid), because Putin likes me,” tweeted Trump.
In June, “Guccifer 2.0” hacked into the servers of the DNC, uncovering oppositional research on Donald Trump and high priced donors to the DNC. The hack described as “very easy” by Guccifer 2.0 also vowed to publish more documents through WikiLeaks very soon.
The fallout led to the abrupt resignation of DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who also said she will not speak during the DNC. She was booed by a crowd of Sanders’s supporters at a breakfast for Florida delegates on July 25.
