Russian hackers ‘helping Trump’
A top official with Hillary Clinton’s campaign has accused the Russian government of orchestrating the release of damaging Democratic Party records to help the campaign of Republican Donald Trump – and some cyber security experts agree.
The extraordinary charge came as some national security officials have been growing increasingly concerned about possible efforts by Russia to meddle in the election, according to several individuals familiar with the situation.
Late last week, hours before the records were released by the website Wikileaks, the White House convened a high-level security meeting to discuss reports that Russia had hacked into systems at the Democratic National Committee.
Although other experts remain sceptical of a Russian role, the hacking incident has caused alarm within the Clinton campaign and also in the national security arena.
Officials from intelligence and defence agencies, including the National Security Council, the Department of Defence, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security, attended the White House meeting on Friday.
If the accusation is true, it would be the first time the Russians have actively tried to influence an election in this manner, analysts said.
Clinton’s campaign chief, Robby Mook, said that ‘‘experts are telling us that Russian state actors broke in to the DNC, took all these emails and now are leaking them out through these websites. . . . It’s troubling that some experts are now telling us that this was done by the Russians for the purpose of helping Donald Trump.’’
Trump campaign officials rejected the suggestion as absurd.
The most sensational revelation so far in the emails is that officials at the supposedly impartial DNC were, in fact, helping Clinton during the primary. One email written on May 5 to Luis Miranda, the national communications director for the DNC, from another party official suggests that the party could help Clinton by raising questions about Sanders’s faith. Other emails generally disparaged Sanders and indicated a preference for Clinton.
The emails have infuriated Sanders supporters, who have repeatedly accused the DNC of improperly helping the Clinton campaign during the primary. The episode prompted the resignation of DNC chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
‘‘They said they were neutral, which we knew not to be true,’’ said Sanders’ campaign manager Jeff Weaver. ‘‘Now we have evidence in black and white that they were trying to put out negative stories about Bernie Sanders. People are very angry about these leaks, and rightfully so.’’
Beyond Mook, DNC and Clinton campaign officials have not responded to requests for comment as reporters and unnerved campaign staff tried to assess the damage caused by the release, which comes just as the party holds a nominating convention in Philadelphia designed to project unity after a bitter primary season.
The emails were released on Twitter by Wikileaks. The document dump follows a report last month by The Washington Post that Russian government hackers had penetrated the computer network of the DNC.