BuzzFeed Suing DNC For Proof They Were Hacked

BuzzFeed is suing the cash-strapped Democratic National Committee (DNC) to force them to hand over information related to the "Steele Dossier" that might help the news outlet defend itself against a lawsuit lodged by a Russian businessman who was named in the document. 

Three separate lawsuits have been launched against BuzzFeed in connection to the January 11, 2017 publication of the dossier, which states that Russian tech executive Aleksej Gubarev used his web hosting companies to hack into the DNC's computer systems.

The dossier, without substantiation, said Gubarev’s U.S.-based global web-hosting companies, XBT and Webzilla, planted digital bugs, transmitted viruses and conducted altering operations against the Democratic Party leadership.

While one key name in the dossier was blackened out by BuzzFeed, Gubarev’s was not. He alleges that he was never contacted for comment, suffering reputational harm in the process. -Foreign Policy

As part of their defense, BuzzFeed issued a subpoena to the DNC for information which might help them defend against Gubarev's lawsuit by verifying claims in the dossier - including "digital remnants left by the Russian state operatives," as well as a full version of the hacking report prepared by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.

Since the DNC wouldn't let the FBI look at the server and instead relied on the report prepared by CrowdStrike (founded by Russian expat Dimitri Alperovitch - who sits on the very Anti-Russian Atlantic Council along with Evelyn "oops!" Farkas. The AC is funded by the US State Department, NATO, Latvia, Lithuania, and Ukranian Oligarch Victor Pinchuk, who apparently owns the Ukrainian gas company Joe Biden's son is on the board of).

“As part of the discovery process, BuzzFeed is attempting to verify claims in the dossier that relate to the hacking of the DNC,” said BuzzFeed spokesman Matt Mittenhal in a statement. “We’re asking a federal court to force the DNC to follow the law and allow BuzzFeed to fully defend its First Amendment rights.”

Last month, the DNC claimed that providing the requested information would expose the DNC's internal operations and harm the party politically (it's always someone else's fault, no?). 

“If these documents were disclosed, the DNC’s internal operations, as well as its ability to effectively achieve its political goals, would be harmed,” said DNC lawyers. 

If the DNC is compelled to turn over the full CrowdStrike report and "digital remnants," perhaps Gubarev would then present a counter-analysis by researcher Forensicator which CrowdStrike apparently "missed" - revealing that the DNC files were copied at 22.6 MB/s - all but confirming that the files had to have been copied locally by an inside source. Many have speculated that DNC IT staffer Seth Rich, whose murder is still unsolved, was the source of the emails provided to WikiLeaks.

Word of BuzzFeed's suit against the DNC comes on the heels of a Monday revelation that the news outlet hired a former top FBI and White House cybersecurity official to fly around the globe on a secret mission to corroborate various claims in the dossier. 

The probe is being conducted by Anthony Ferrante - formerly the FBI's top official in charge of "cyber incident response" at the U.S. National Security Council under the Obama administration. Ferrante is leading the investigation from his new employer, D.C.-based business advisory firm, Forensic Technologies International (FTI) consulting reports Foreign Policy

At FTI, Ferrante launched what’s now been a months-long stealth effort chasing down documents and conducting interviews on the ground in various countries around the world. His team directed BuzzFeed lawyers to subpoena specific data and testimony from dozens of agencies or companies across the country and assembled a cyber ops war room to analyze that data, according to sources familiar with the work.

Considering that much of the Steele dossier came from a collaboration with high level Kremlin officials (a collusion if you will), one has to wonder exactly what channels Ferrante and FTI have tapped in order to access such information.

Wouldn't it be funny if BuzzFeed proves the DNC wasn't hacked?

Comments

Canadian Dirtlump GunnyG Wed, 02/14/2018 - 13:33 Permalink

This is hilarious. The ultimate form of low rent irredeemable pinkos turning on each other. In their haste to get clicks while virtue signaling as anti trump - Buzzfeed pulled off the Gawker Maneuver  - only worse. We find out yesterday, they are scouring the globe trying to corroborate essentially a harlequin romance novel - and now we see them turning on the DNC like a rabid wookie.

 

LOL. When your enemy is destroying themselves, all you need to do is pull up a chair.

In reply to by GunnyG

Killtruck TeethVillage88s Wed, 02/14/2018 - 13:33 Permalink

I can't wait to see how they spin their twice-renewed double-strengthened total lack of interest in Seth Rich's mur-...ahem, robbery, THIS time. 

 

What WAS on that DWS laptop that the paki left in the closet of the Capitol building? HMMMM? Funny how she was desperate to get it back...

And has anyone seen Weiner's laptop (plenty of laptops have seen his weiner, heeeeeyyy) lately? Hello? Director Wray? NYPD? 

In reply to by TeethVillage88s

Chupacabra-322 Stan522 Wed, 02/14/2018 - 13:32 Permalink

@ Stan522, I suggest reading my post below then this one.  

 

The Trump Team was being surveiled the entire time by Breanan via the GCHQ.  The CIA are Analysts. That’s it.  They had to involve the FBI to begin the Surveillance & Criminal Investgstion into the Counter Intelligence Operation.  Thus, Criminal at Large Breanan’s trip up to Capital Hill to meet with Harry Reid to brief him on Steele.  Breanan the “Puppet Master” has been quarter backing the entire Deep State Intelligence Psychological Operation & Parallel Construction Surveillance from the very start.  

 

They’ve been reverse engineering their lies ever since they lost the election to cover their tracks and use the excuse of “Plusible Deniability” as the Pure Evil War Criminal Treasonous Seditious Psychopaths at the CIA always claim.  

 

Feb 13th, Don Bongino Podcast.

 

“I’ll include an article from NPR. NPR, not a by any stretch a right Wing outlet.  Ok? But it’s actually a decent piece.  

 

Now, it describes the three hop rule.  It’s from 2013, but it describes it very shortly & ce scintillating in about 400 words.  And it’s done well so I’ll include it in todays show notes.

 

Remember, It’s now the “Two Hop Rule” but you just have to know what a “Hop” is to understand how dangerous this is.

 

Here’s who they explain it.

 

It says, “testimony before Congress on Wednesday, remember this is written in 2013 Joe.  Showed how easy it is for Americans, with no connection to Terrorism to unwittingly have their calling patterns analyzed by the Government.” This is really wacko stuff.  It hinges on what is known as a “Hop.”  

 

Or chain analysis.  When the NSA identifies a suspect, it can look not just at his phone records Joe, but also the records of everyone he calls, everyone who calls those people and everyone who calls those people.” Chain Migration.  

 

You ain’t kidding! Right!? Chain spying!

 

It goes on...though....this is good.

 

“If the average person Joe, called 40 unique people.  “Three Hop Analysts” would allow the Government to mine the records....this is a staggering number...of 2.5 Million Americans when investigating one suspected terrorist.”

 

“Holy Moly!” Holly Moly is right.

 

Why get a FISA warrant for Cater Paige after he left the Trump Team?  Because folks, the FISA Warrant is RETROACTIVE.  

 

All the the emails he sent in the past to Trump Team members, combine that with “Two Hops” you basically have everybody in the known universe that could of ever contacted the Trump Team.

 

Paige sends an email, whatever to Kushner.  I don’t know who he sends emails to.  He probably didn’t.  But you get the point.  Then you go to another “Hop.” Kushner, who’d he send an email to?  Now you got the while Trump Team.

 

That’s the whole point.  That’s why I constantly say to you that they were trying to put a legal face on this thing after they realized the election was coming up and they could lose. 

 

They were like.  Man, we’ve been spying on these people the whole time. We already got most of their emails and their communications. How do we legally do it now? 

 

Oh, we get a FISA Warrant, we use couple of “Hops” and we’re Golden.”

 

http://www.bongino.com/february-13-2018-ep-654-more-strange-occurrences/

 

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=207195207

 

 

Question comes up a lot is.  “Where are the “White Hats?”   We are the White Hats.

 

In reply to by Stan522

chunga Slippery Slope Wed, 02/14/2018 - 13:26 Permalink

Many have speculated about that guy. Just none of the fraud morons in congress and all their stupid committees.

For that matter, the maverick dotard has never heard of him either. Apparently he has heard of Assange's offer, because he was specifically asked about it, he'd prefer to tweet about fake news. Bonehead Stiff Sessions has never heard of anything. 

None of them has seen the reporting by OANN. DOH!

In reply to by Slippery Slope

natxlaw Wed, 02/14/2018 - 13:21 Permalink

I hope JA releases the evidence that Rich was the leak soon. He’s holding it over Trump’s head for a full pardon, but if it comes out this way, he’ll be back to hat in hand if the pardon gets politically dicey.

Chupacabra-322 Wed, 02/14/2018 - 13:24 Permalink

The Steele dossier was written by the DNC/Hillary with help from their criminal moles in the DOJ and FBI.

 

Russia is the red herring.

 

Much of the GOP memo is about the FBI obtaining a secret court order to monitor a former Trump campaign adviser, Carter Page. The memo alleges that the FBI did not fully disclose to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court that some of the information stemmed from intelligence reports provided by Christopher Steele, a former British spy under contract for a research firm working on behalf of Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee. The FBI, in a rare unsigned statement, said it has “grave concerns” about the accuracy of the memo.

 

Here’s the problem with the claim that the memo shows that FBI was spying on the campaign: Carter Page was no longer associated with the campaign when the court order was approved.

 

Here’s the timeline.

March 16, 2016: In an interview with The Washington Post editorial board, Trump names Page as one of his foreign policy advisers. (In 2013, Page was warned by the FBI that Russian intelligence operatives were trying to recruit him.)

“Well, I hadn’t thought of doing it, but if you want I can give you some of the names … Walid Phares, who you probably know, PhD, adviser to the House of Representatives caucus, and counterterrorism expert; Carter Page, PhD; George Papadopoulos, he’s an energy and oil consultant, excellent guy; the Honorable Joe Schmitz, [former] inspector general at the Department of Defense; [retired] Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg; and I have quite a few more. But that’s a group of some of the people that we are dealing with. We have many other people in different aspects of what we do, but that’s a representative group.”

 

July 7-8, 2016: Page attracts attention by traveling to Moscow and delivering a speech harshly critical of U.S. policy toward Russia. He emails campaign officials about “incredible insights” from his trip.

 

Aug. 5, 2016: The Trump campaign begins to back away from Page when The Washington Post reports on the unease in both parties caused by Page’s remarks in Russia. Asked to comment on Page’s public statements and campaign role, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said Page was an “informal foreign policy adviser” who “does not speak for Mr. Trump or the campaign.”

 

Sept. 23, 2016: The Trump campaign denies Page was ever part of the campaign. “Mr. Page is not an adviser and has made no contribution to the campaign,” campaign spokesperson Jason Miller said. “He’s never been part of our campaign. Period.” The statement comes as Yahoo News reports that a U.S. intelligence probe was trying to determine if Page had “opened up private communications with senior Russian officials — including talks about the possible lifting of economic sanctions if the Republican nominee becomes president.”

 

Sept. 26, 2016: Page himself announces he is taking “a leave of absence” from the campaign, saying the reporting on his remarks has created a “distraction.”

 

Oct. 21, 2016: Nearly a month after the Trump campaign says Page was never part of the campaign, the FBI seeks and receives a FISA court order to begin surveillance on Page. The order is renewed at least three more times over the next year, meaning that the FBI is able to convince the judges that surveillance continues to provide assistance to investigators. The Wall Street Journal reported that all of the judges who approved the orders were appointed by Republicans.

 

Feb. 16, 2017: Trump denies he ever met Page. “I don’t think I’ve ever met him,” he told reporters at a news conference. “And he actually said he was a very low-level member of, I think, a committee for a short period of time. I don’t think I ever met him. Now, it’s possible that I walked into a room and he was sitting there, but I don’t think I ever met him. I didn’t talk to him, ever.”

 

In other words, the surveillance began long after Page had supposedly left the campaign. Trump denies he ever met or spoke to Page. So it’s hard to see how a court order on a former campaign adviser — less than three weeks before the election — would constitute spying on the campaign.

 

The memo also discloses that the FBI opened a counterintelligence operation in July because of allegations concerning other Trump adviser, George Papadopoulos. But Papadopoulos was never mentioned in the Steele dossier. He came to attention of the FBI because he had told an Australian diplomat that the Russians had obtained thousands of Clinton’s emails. He has pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and is cooperating with the special counsel.

A spokesman for Rep. Raúl R. Labrador (R-Idaho) did not respond to a request for comment.

 

Update: After this article was published, Todd Winer, a Labrador spokesman, provided the following comment:

 

“The Nunes Memo makes it clear that federal officials were interested in Carter Page because he was connected to the Trump campaign. Why else would the FISA application contain the findings of the anti-Trump dossier? Why else would the application include the fact that the FBI was already investigating Trump advisor George Papadopoulos? Whether or not Carter Page was on the payroll of the Trump campaign on the date of the FISA order is irrelevant. By virtue of the fact that he had once worked on the campaign, he was connected to the campaign.

 

“For a year, the Washington Post and other media outlets have specifically mentioned Carter Page as one of the leading figures in the Trump-Russia collusion story. Now that the media narrative is falling apart, all of a sudden you want to argue that Carter Page has nothing to do with Trump. You can’t have it both ways.”

 

A spokesman for Duncan said: “Had the noncredible DNC funded dossier never been leaked to the media to fuel mass speculation of Russian involvement, and had it not been used as ‘evidence’ to elevate the investigation to the level of requesting FISA warrants, it’s very likely that there would have never been a perceived need for special counsel to be created in the first place.”

 

Akzed Wed, 02/14/2018 - 13:25 Permalink

CrowdStrike was funded handsomely by Eric Schmidt, who resigned from Alphabet on Dec. 21 hours after the EO was released targeting human trafficking. Weird, I know.

Bemused Observer Wed, 02/14/2018 - 13:26 Permalink

This is what kills me...The DNC refuses to let the FBI look at the server...Well, that's pretty much the basis of their whole accusation isn't it? That they were hacked?

If I report a burglary to the police, but refuse to allow them past my front door, I don't think they'll just accept my report and walk away. In fact, I think they'd be both pissed AND extremely suspicious about ME at that point.

Now imagine if I also went public about being robbed, and began pointing my finger at people and publicly accusing them at the same time as I was refusing to allow an investigation of MY accusation?? 

How long would I be able to get away with that before being shut down?

bh2 Wed, 02/14/2018 - 13:26 Permalink

"the DNC files were copied at 22.6 MB/s - all but confirming that the files had to have been copied locally by an inside source."

Binney was the first to point this out. Either CrowdStrike are completely incompetent OR they are liars for hire.

natronic Wed, 02/14/2018 - 13:30 Permalink

They will prove that the DNC wasn't hacked, that Anthony dude has been scouring the globe for 6 months and so far NADA!!

 

They will fail and this may be the first major shoe to drop.

Dragon HAwk Wed, 02/14/2018 - 13:32 Permalink

Hey if we say we were hacked by the Russians,  we were hacked by the Russians.. Trust us.

skip right over the fact that the NSA released the tools that let you id tag anything electronic however you want it to look.

dot_bust Wed, 02/14/2018 - 13:32 Permalink

God forbid someone should actually get a look at the DNC's server log files. 

Then it would become apparent that the DNC's files were downloaded locally to a USB drive.

Thus, the entire "Russia hacked us" narrative would vanish like a fart in the wind.

Equifax has been trying to play the same "we were hacked" game. The real story is that the top executives there actually downloaded the files to external drives and sold the information to the highest bidder.

Terminaldude Wed, 02/14/2018 - 13:32 Permalink

The NSA has it all, but this indeed will be amusing to FINALLY have it revealed that, YES, it was LEAKED, NOT HACKED!  That is getting so old, yet it is what the DNC has to hold onto, or all the corruption in the system (on both sides I am sure) will come out.

Another topic.  

Why is there no more word about that sick Fu-K Podesta and his Emails?  That is just as big of a scandal that was never denied, but just complained about how they were "Leaked"/"Hacked", what ever you want to call it.

Pedophile Bastards.

1.21 jigawatts Wed, 02/14/2018 - 13:38 Permalink

Dear lord.  As if Buzzfeed actually believes that the DNC would expose themselves and/or fall on their own sword to save little, shit stain Buzzfeed. 

As if Buzzfeed believes that there's actual evidence. 

Buzzfeed is toast.  Good riddance!