Russia eyed in Clinton hack
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton’s campaign computers have been hacked, said sources who added Friday that the Russian government is likely responsible for yet another attack on Democrats.
The newly revealed attack comes after computer networks for the Democratic National Committee and the party’s fundraising committee for congressional candidates were also hacked.
A trove of stolen e-mails from the party — released last week — resulted in the downfall of DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who resigned as a result of explosive revelations.
The Justice Department’s national-security division is investigating the cyber attacks.
The FBI warned the Clinton campaign in March that it had been targeted by hackers, Yahoo News said.
But the campaign refused to cooperate with the investigation — holding back data the FBI had requested to look into the matter, Yahoo reported.
The Clinton campaign believed the request would have meant turning over too much sensitive information to the FBI, which at the time was also in the middle of a separate lengthy investigation into Clinton’s use of a private e-mail server while she served as secretary of state.
The FBI said it “takes seriously any allegations of intrusions, and we will continue to hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace.”
The Clinton campaign down- played the severity of the latest hacking, maintaining it was confined to “an analytics data program maintained by the DNC, and used by our campaign and a number of other entities,” spokesman Nick Merrill said.
“Our campaign computer system has been under review by outside cybersecurity experts,” he said. “To date, they have found no evidence that our internal systems have been compromised.”
One cybersecurity expert who has consulted multiple political campaigns told The Post it’s reasonable to believe “all” political organizations, parties and their various campaigns have been targeted.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told Fox News Friday: “We’re obviously checking our own servers and having various folks come in. So far we seem to feel pretty clean right now, but you never know.” He added, “We don’t wish this on anyone.”
In a press conference this week, however, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump appeared to encourage Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, to obtain — and release — e-mails that Clinton had failed to turn over upon her departure as secretary of state. Trump later said he was just joking.
They have found no evidence that our internal systems have been compromised. — Clinton spokesman Nick Merrill about the hacking of her campaign computers allegedly by the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin (left)