Trump took particular delight in making light of Democratic disunity as party loyalists gather in Philadelphia this week to anoint Clinton as their nominee, after a week in which Republicans struggled to unify behind Trump at their convention in Cleveland.
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) – First came the hack, then the leak.
The party delivered an apology to Sanders supporters as formal proceedings began.
The FBI suspects that Russian government hackers breached the networks of the Democratic National Committee and stole emails that were posted to the anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks on Friday.
The theory that Moscow orchestrated the leaks to help Trump, who has repeatedly praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and practically called for the end of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, is fast gaining currency within the Obama administration because of the timing of the leaks and Trump’s own connections to the Russian government, the sources said on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing and developing quickly.
When asked about Russia’s role in releasing the DNC emails and about any Trump ties to the Kremlin, Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort told ABC’s This Week that the accusations were “obfuscation on the part of the Clinton campaign” and that there are no ties between Trump and the Putin regime.
The roar of the ensuing fire was evident when Sanders was later booed by his own supporters, even as he encouraged them to continue a long-term fight to elect progressives at every level of government. Irate, in fact, that the emails confirmed their long-held suspicions the party had favored Clinton all along.
“A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation will continue to investigate and hold accountable those who pose a threat in cyberspace”.
The suspected Russian hack is part of a wave of Russian cyber attacks aimed at political organizations and academic think tanks in Washington, U.S. officials briefed on the investigations say. Peskov also denied reports that Trump’s foreign policy adviser, Carter Page, met with Putin’s chief of staff during his visit to Moscow earlier this month.
Was it from the Russians?
The FBI is investigating a hack into 20,000 emails sent by the Democratic National Committee – a breach that has exposed what one national security watchdog called a glaring weakness of the US government’s cyber infrastructure. Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told CNN that “changes to the Republican platform to make it more pro-Russian”, and that “I don’t think it’s coincidental that these emails were released on the eve of our convention here, and I think that’s disturbing”.
Whatever the source, the fallout from the leaked emails was swift and dramatic.
The emails, released by activist group WikiLeaks at the weekend, appeared to show favoritism within the DNC for Clinton over U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who ran a close race for the nomination for the November 8 election.
Trump dismissed what he called “one of the weirdest conspiracy theories” he said he had heard. Besides, as Marshall correctly pointed out, Russia’s state-owned media have been openly rooting for Trump.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin fumed five years ago when Clinton and the U.S. State Department criticized a somewhat rigged Russian election. Or “maybe it’s simply just a mutual admiration society”, he told MSNBC.
Trump has espoused foreign policy views that could be favorable to Russian Federation, giving it an incentive to undermine Clinton’s candidacy, the thinking goes.
Trump hasn’t been linked to any official or businessman close to Putin’s inner circle. “It accuses “current officials in the Kremlin” of eroding the “personal liberty and fundamental rights” of the Russian people”.
Clinton loyalists were eager to put a period on the latest email episode.
The headquarters of the Democratic National Committee is seen in Washington, U.S. June 14, 2016. But Sanders’ delegates didn’t seem ready to move on.
“Unfortunately Russia is being used in the electoral campaign in the US”.
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“It could just as easily be an insider using the Russians as an excuse”, he told AFP in an email. Sergio Millian, a Russian consultant based in NY, told ABC News that during that trip he helped arrange a series of meetings between Trump and Russian businessmen.
