The Plot to Hack America

However, this was not to be. The FBI did conclude its investigation and determined that Secretary Clinton did not intentionally commit any crimes. There would be no indictment. The FBI determined that 110 of the 30,000 emails Clinton originally turned over contained information that was classified at the time she received them, but most had classification markers removed. Clinton had not deliberately misled anyone nor had she lied to the FBI. FBI Director James Comey called her actions “extremely careless,” although the agency recommended no charges be filed against the former Secretary of State.⁴⁰

Seemingly nothing could derail the Clinton nomination. The Democratic Convention in Philadelphia was fast approaching and the last chance for Clinton’s detractors to take down her campaign by the use of the emails had seemingly evaporated.

2 SUSPICIONS OF SOMETHING MORE SINISTER

The Trump Opposition Files

Late in the primaries, just two months before Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton would go to their respective conventions, the depth of the seriousness of the DNC hack was starting to sink in. It became apparent that the first successful hacks had stolen quite a bit from the DNC computers. The hackers took all manner of electronic information, particularly emails related to the internal conversations of the individual staff members, deliberations of the senior leadership, and internal correspondence. Additionally, Excel spreadsheets with donor information, contact lists, and even the voicemails of angry constituents were copied. However, the true treasure from this intrusion was a single file folder of the opposition research on the likely Republican opponent in the U.S. Presidential elections, Donald J. Trump.

The Trump Opposition Research dossier was put together by DNC staffer Alexandra Chalupa. On June 15, the website Gawker published the entirety of Chalupa’s opposition files on Trump.¹ It was a collection of what dirt could be dredged up and used in tough political seas that were sure to come. To the DNC and the Clinton campaign, the dossier of data was rather mundane information from online sources collating the publically-available information the DNC and Clinton campaign would use to characterize Trump. To a general hacker it would be of little interest except for amusement purposes. If the folder contained routine information, sophisticated narrative management could counter whatever the Clinton camp prepared. If the folder contained something explosive, leaking it early could defuse any interest, or it could be argued that the information was false based on the insecurity of the servers. For the Trump campaign, knowing in advance what the DNC and Team Clinton knew would prove invaluable to defending and counterattacking Hillary. And it is not unprecedented. One paranoid American president, so concerned with what secrets the DNC had on him, performed the same operation that appears to have occurred here.

There were early indications that a foreign nation had been targeting the opposition files before the news broke. In a May 3, 2013 email written on her DNC email account to Luis Miranda, the DNC communications director, Chalupa wrote in that she had spoken to Ukrainian journalists about her research on Trump. She also noted that when she started researching information on Paul Manafort, Trump’s new campaign manager, and his ties to the Ukraine, Yahoo security started sending her numerous messages warning her that her email had become the target of “state-sponsored actors.” Yahoo implemented a security protocol in December, 2015 that would warn its users if any foreign government activity was seen impacting their accounts.² The Yahoo CIO issued a blog post stating, “We’re committed to protecting the security and safety of our users, and we strive to detect and prevent unauthorized access to user accounts by third parties.”³ The main component of this early warning system is a pop-up banner that reads Important Action Required. We strongly suspect that your account has been the target of state-sponsored actors. Learn how to better protect yourself.

Chalupa noted at the end of her email to Miranda that “Since I started digging into [Trump campaign chairman Paul] Manafort, these messages have been a daily occurrence on my Yahoo account despite changing my password often.” It was well known that Paul Manafort is the lawyer who led what is known as the “Torturers Lobby.”⁴ In his portfolio was a rogue’s gallery of dictators, strongmen, and autocrats, including the Ukraine’s deposed pro-Moscow dictator Viktor Yanukovych.

Transmitting the Punch?