A report detailing the Democratic National Committee’s opposition research on Donald Trump and the party’s general election attack plan was leaked this week. The DNC confirmed Tuesday that its computer network was hacked.
The DNC says it was hacked by Russians. Trump says the Democrats “hacked” themselves.
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Or was it?
Trump raised suspicion over the DNC’s alleged hack Wednesday, insinuating that the Democratic Party and leader Debbie Wasserman Schultz might have just wanted to release the opposition research in full to sully his name.
“Maybe they weren’t hacked; maybe they just want to get it out there,” Trump said in an interview with Greta Van Susteren on Fox News Wednesday night, inciting yet another conspiracy about the Democratic Party’s underlying motives.
While it’s not unusual for Trump to make vague insinuations about his opposition (this week he also said President Barack Obama may “get” the Orlando shooting “better than anybody understands,” whatever that means), his comments signal the start of what will undoubtedly be a dynamic general election.
The DNC says it was Russian hackers. Trump doesn’t buy it.
Security experts and DNC officials say the Russian government was behind the leak, which compromised the systems so severely that hackers were also able to gain access to emails and internal messages, the Washington Post reported Tuesday.
The officials also said the hack was part of a larger breach of both Hillary Clinton and Trump’s networks, in addition to those of some Republican political groups.
The leaked file — more than 200 pages outlining the presumptive Republican nominees personal history using published reports —highlights the DNC’s plans to attack Trump in the general election, with sections titled “Trump has no core,” and “Trump is a liar.”
But according to Trump, this “hack” was really a calculated move to “distract” the public from Clinton’s flaws.
“We believe it was the DNC that did the ‘hacking’ as a way to distract from the many issues facing their deeply flawed candidate and failed party leader,” Trump said in a Wednesday statement obtained by Politico. “Too bad the DNC doesn’t hack Crooked Hillary’s, 33,000 missing emails.”
“This is all information that has been out there for many years,” he added, “much of it false and/or entirely inaccurate.”
