Russia ‘leaked emails to help Trump’
RUSSIA was accused yesterday of hacking into the emails of the Democratic Party in a bid to help put pro-Putin Donald Trump in the White House.
The astonishing charge from senior Democrats came as 20,000 emails were dumped on the WikiLeaks website to reveal that officials waged a dirty tricks campaign against Bernie Sanders.
They were damning proof the party flouted its duty of impartiality by siding with eventual victor Hillary Clinton over her socialist rival for the Democratic nomination.
The revelations plunged the party’s national convention into turmoil as it opened in Philadelphia. Debbie Wasserman Schultz quit as chairman of the National Committee and was booed off stage amid shouts of ‘Shame!’ Furious Sanders supporters took to the streets of the city in protest, claiming Mrs Clinton’s victory was a fix.
They were further angered when she called Mrs Wasserman Schultz a ‘long-time friend’ and gave her a job in the Clinton campaign.
Yesterday John Podesta, Clinton campaign chairman, said he believed reports that Russian military intelligence hacked into the National Committee’s computer servers.
His claims – first made by committee officials a month ago – were echoed by House Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi and backed by internet security experts.
Forensic evidence shows the documents passed through Russian computers and points to two of Moscow’s intelligence agencies being involved. It is unclear if the operation was directly ordered by Mr Putin.
Attempts by Mr Trump to exploit the Democrats’ woes were undermined by credible evidence the emails only came to light because the Kremlin wants him to be president. Mr Trump and Mr Putin have publicly complimented each other. The US tycoon has called the Kremlin strongman a better leader than Barack Obama and said he would ‘like to get along’ with Russia if elected.
But Mr Trump brushed off claims that he is being helped by Moscow, describing the claims on Twitter as ‘the new joke in town’.
Last night retired General John Allen backed Mrs Clinton, saying Mr Trump would be a loose cannon if he ran US foreign policy.