The FBI late Thursday night released an official statement confirming the shocking story True Pundit broke 16 hours earlier detailing how evasive Democratic National Committee officials refused federal agents access to examine its servers to trace email leaks and security breaches.
“The FBI repeatedly stressed to DNC officials the necessity of obtaining direct access to servers and data, only to be rebuffed until well after the initial compromise had been mitigated,” an official statement issued from the FBI’s Washington D.C. headquarters said. “This left the FBI no choice but to rely upon a third party for information. These actions caused significant delays and inhibited the FBI from addressing the intrusion earlier.”
FBI officials said True Pundit’s story, published early Thursday morning, accurately portrayed the challenges of FBI forensic computer experts who were ultimately handcuffed by the DNC.
“The story is dead on,” a FBI official acknowledged.
From the original True Pundit story:
The Democratic National Committee, who for months has publicly bellyached about a breach of its private emails by alleged Russian spies, has refused the FBI access to investigate its computer servers to trace the origins of the leaks.
Federal agents confirmed Thursday that despite numerous attempts to assist and help trace the DNC’s cyber security woes and gaffes, DNC officials would not allow FBI forensic computer experts to investigate the server leaks from inside the DNC. No access was granted unless the FBI agreed to not publicly disseminate its findings until it first consulted with DNC officials for permission, a federal source said.
The FBI didn’t agree to the DNC’s absurd terms. Instead, the DNC hired a private security firm to conduct an internal investigation. The DNC then forwarded that third-party report to the FBI.
“You complain about Russians hacking your box (servers) but won’t let the FBI full access to investigate unless you control the inquiry?” a federal law enforcement source said.”The identical behavior we see when a suspect lawyers up before talking to the FBI. It’s very suspect.”
Wouldn’t an organization want to pinpoint who accessed its private emails? What is the DNC hiding?
If the FBI did not conduct a thorough investigation of the DNC’s email breaches, then how can it definitely ascertain what roles the Russian state may have or may not have played in the hack?
The FBI is scheduled to report its findings to President-Elect Donald Trump on Friday.