A lone hacker by the name ‘Guccifer 2.0’ has claimed responsibility for hacking the Democratic National Committee database, revealing research on GOP and donor information. This contradicts the initial DNC reports that Russia was behind the attack.
DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz acknowledged that the party servers were hacked and that opposition research was stolen, but denied that documents of a financial nature were compromised.
On his website, Guccifer 2.0 posted some of the documents allegedly lifted from DNC’s servers, such as a 200-page “opposition research” document on Donald Trump. The hacker also posted documents with names of famous individuals who have made donations to the Democratic Party in the millions of dollars, such as actor Morgan Freeman and hedge fund manager James H. Simmons.
A document titled “2016 GOP presidential candidates” from May 2015 – about a month after Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy – shows the DNC’s strategy to use the mainstream media to stress Clinton’s positives, while feeding reporters information and questions about Republican opponents to paint them in a negative light.
“Reporter Outreach: Working through the DNC and others, we should use background briefings, prep with reporters for interviews with GOP candidates, off-the-record conversations and oppo pitches to help pitch stories with no fingerprints and utilize reporters to drive a message,” the document says.
Instead of laying out…