Was the Pentagon’s research agency involved in pushing false claims that Russians working for Donald Trump hacked the Democratic National Committee’s email server in 2016?
It’s the question two Republican senators are demanding answers to after the emergence of a new email linking the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to computer scientists investigating who was behind the cyberattack that rocked the presidential campaign.
The latest call for an investigation comes months after Special Counsel John Durham concluded there was no evidence Trump conspired with Moscow to help him defeat Hillary Clinton in a damning report.
Since then, the hunt for those responsible for spreading fabricated stories about Trump’s Kremlin link to politicians and the press has intensified.
The hack led to a leak of emails that were devastating to Clinton and the DNC, and some say contributed to her loss to Trump.
Hackers associated with Moscow were initially believed to be the perpetrators, but Durham’s report led to allegations that DARPA was behind the false narrative.
Two Republican senators are demanding answers from the Pentagon’s investigative division on their investigation into the 2016 Democratic National Committee email server hack
The claims stemmed from DARPA’s highly controversial work with research partner Georgia Institute of Technology and one of their computer scientists Dr. Manos Antonakakis.
An email obtained by Durham revealed that Antonakakis, who researched the DNC and Republican National Committee (RNC) databases, said “the only thing that drives us is that we just don’t like (Trump).”
DARPA has consistently denied that they were behind the allegations that Russia was involved in the hack.
But Republicans say a new email raises new questions about their claim and the origins of the now-debunked allegations.
Senators Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa said the new evidence proves that DARPA signed a project related to the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
DailyMail.com has exclusively received a letter they wrote this week to Dr. Stefanie Tompkins, director of DARPA, demanding answers about the agency’s work with the Georgia Institute of Technology on the Enhanced Attribution (EA) program related to the 2016 hack of DNC communications.
The EA program investigates malicious cyber attacks.
The email from Antonakakis reads: ‘Folks, last night when I was thinking about what we can study, I also realized that we don’t know much about the RNC and DNC networks out there. Wrote a job that ran (sic) overnight and I know (sic) that there are currently 292 *hand verified* networks connected to RNC, DNC and all local/state commission networks in the US.
‘An opponent would find these networks interesting for various reasons.
“So I think we should run a reverse Pythia and see what we can see. If you approve, (DARPA employee), I would like you to think about how we can break bad news to these people? If you can’t think of a clear and straightforward way to inform them (is this the role of DHS or the FBI or the USCC?), maybe we should leave them infected.
If you approve, (DARPA employee), I would like you to think about how we can break bad news to these people? If you can’t think of a clear and straightforward way to inform them (is this the role of DHS or the FBI or the USCC?), maybe we should leave them infected. Thank you Manos
DailyMail.com has exclusively received a letter they wrote this week to Dr. Stefanie Tompkins, director of DARPA, demanding answers about the agency’s work with the Georgia Institute of Technology on the Enhanced Attribution (EA) program regarding the 2016 hack of DNC communications
DARPA’s response was, “Sensitive stuff, but yes, I know who to talk to if we find something.” Worth doing.’
Antonakis wrote back, “Okay then. I’ll work with these networks and see what I can come up with.’
Democratic cybersecurity attorney Michael Sussman was indicted last year for allegedly concealing his clients, including 2015 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, when he pushed since-debunked allegations of a connection between the Trump Organization and Russia’s Alfa Bank to the FBI.
In April 2018, the DNC filed a lawsuit accusing the Russian government, the Trump campaign, and Wikileaks of colluding to influence the 2016 election with the hack.
It is not yet clear what the source of the claims is for the allegation that the Trump team and Russia coordinated the DNC hack.
The latest development comes months after Special Counsel John Durham concluded there was no evidence Trump conspired with Moscow to help him defeat Hillary Clinton in a damning report.
The senators asked for information on whether Antonakis performed any work on DARPA’s behalf regarding the DNC and RNC networks and, if so, whether they had informed the committees that they were poking into their networks.
They also asked for all records of any work that DARPA and Georgia Tech officials had done related to the RNC or DNC.
In May of this year, Durham referred two cases to the Inspector General of the Department of Defense and the Defense Intelligence Agency, including “(o)ne matter involv(ing) the execution of a contract between DARPA and the Georgia Institute of Technology.” ..’ and a ‘separate case concerning the irregular conduct in 2016 of two former Defense employees’.
DARPA has denied any role in attributing the 2016 DNC hack to Russia after an email showed Special Counsel John Durham’s team asked Antonakis if DARPA played a role in attributing the hack.
Antonakis expressed his displeasure that the Durham team questioned whether DARPA should poke into the origins of a political entity hacker.
The emails first published by The Federalist read: “During one of my interviews with the Special Prosecutor’s Attorney, I was asked outright by Mr. DeFilippis, ‘Do you believe that DARPA should instruct you to identify the origin of a hacker (Guccifer 2.0) who hacked into a political entity (DNC)?’ Let that synchronize for a moment, people,” Antonakakis wrote last summer. “Someone hacked into a political party (DNC in this case), in the middle of an election year (2016), and the DOJ Special Counsel (sic) Chief Investigator would be wondering if US investigators working for DARPA should be investigating this case is acceptable’!’
Antonakakis added, “While I was tempted to say back to him, ‘What if this hacker hacked GOP? Would you like me to examine him then?’ I kept my cool and told him this is a question for the director of DARPA, not for me to answer.’
That email was sent to fellow Georgia Tech officials.
A DARPA spokesperson told the Washington Examiner last year that “to our knowledge, no DARPA-funded investigators have conducted any research” into the DNC 2016 hack, and the agency has not supported the FBI’s or Robert Mueller’s investigations.
In 2016, the DNC’s computer network was hacked – work attributed to Russians by US intelligence officials. In December 2016, the CIA concluded that the hack was perpetrated to collect data on Democrats and support Donald Trump’s campaign. Russian President Vladimir Putin denied his country was behind the attack.
US intelligence agencies concluded that Russian agents with government ties provided stolen emails to Wikileaks.
Antonakis has denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crimes.