Hacker ‘Guccifer,’ who uncovered Clinton’s private emails, to be extradited to US

[Loudestlib]

Perhaps most notably, Lehel was also the first source to uncover Hillary Clinton’s improper use of a private email account while she was Secretary of State, which the FBI is investigating as a potential danger to national security.

In March 2013, the hacker released to RT and several other news outlets the four memos that had been sent to Clinton from her former political adviser Sidney Blumenthal. The memos contain information regarding the September 11, 2012 attacks on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, as well as the January 2013 hostage crisis in In Amenas, Algeria.




https://www.rt.com/usa/334846-romanian-hacker-guccifer-extradition/

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-cyber-guccifer-idUSKCN0W61TX

[CoffeeCat]

1. What is fascinating is what Reuters chose to omit from their article!

Read both articles and look at the differences. Both articles contain the same information, almost word for word, except for one glaring difference.

The Reuters article cut out all references to Hillary Clinton and the fact that this hacker was the first to uncover that Clinton had been using a personal email server.

Here are the paragraphs that are in the RT article, but left out of the Reuters article. (Wow. Just Wow.)
-----------------------------
Perhaps most notably, Lehel was also the first source to uncover Hillary Clinton’s improper use of a private email account while she was Secretary of State, which the FBI is investigating as a potential danger to national security.

In March 2013, the hacker released to RT and several other news outlets the four memos that had been sent to Clinton from her former political adviser Sidney Blumenthal. The memos contain information regarding the September 11, 2012 attacks on the US diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, as well as the January 2013 hostage crisis in In Amenas, Algeria.

[AzDar]

2. ...

[CoffeeCat]

4. Am I the only one who didn't know that a hacker was the first to discover Clinton's private server?

So, her private server was not known to anyone outside of Clinton's inner circle---until a hacker discovered this server and then made public four memos that Sidney Blumenthal sent to HRC?

Anyone else know this all along?

[Punkingal]

5. I'm with you. I didn't know there was a hacker involved.

[winter is coming]

8. News to me. And just the other day, unnamed sources were claiming it was never hacked.

Now I'm wondering which news outlets got this info.

[jillan]

9. I didn't know this either. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't one of the reasons Hillary gives for

using a private server rather than a govt server is because it had a lesser chance of getting hacked?
Did she say that or was that a talking point from her campaign?



I honestly don't know. Until recently I didn't give a damn about those emails, but now - it kinda looks like maybe we should.

[SunSeeker]

17. Hillary's server was never hacked. The State Department was.

And Blumenthal’s email was. That is where they found Hillary's email address, which indicated it was a private, not government email address.

[AtomicKitten]

23. The State Dept wasn't hacked, it was Blumenthal's email.

He sent/received classified data to/from her, and he has no security clearance.

http://gawker.com/5991563/hacked-emails-show-hillary-clinton-was-receiving-advice-at-a-private-email-account-from-banned-obama-hating-former-staffer

[dorkzilla]

24. That's fucking crazy

She sure shows either a lack of judgement or incredible arrogance--or both.

[AtomicKitten]

25. I'd say both with a dash of recklessness.

[dorkzilla]

26. Seriously...

Very fucked up. But she's "presidential".

[SunSeeker]

36. The State Department's email was hacked.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/10/politics/state-department-hack-worst-ever/

And none of the emails on Hillary's server were marked classified at the time she received/sent them.

[AtomicKitten]

37. She instructed an aide to remove the classified header & send over unsecured channel.

Plus they found emails that contained cut & pasted top secret material. That excuse is weak.

[SunSeeker]

38. I proved you wrong and now you are making stuff up.

Par for the course.

[AtomicKitten]

41. Yes and I pointed out top secret data was sent w/ some manipulation.

Point is an indictment is looming.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/265210-email-clinton-asked-adviser-to-send-secure-fax-by-email

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/2016/01/25/clinton_team_copied_intel_off_top_secret_server_to_email_374678.html

[SunSeeker]

52. As usual, none of your links confirm what you are accusing Clinton of.

This is no "indictment looming" nor has anyone determined Clinton ordered "secret data sent w/manipulation."

But man you have the right wing talking points down. Who needs Red State when there's DU?

[AtomicKitten]

56. They, in fact, confirmed two things regarding the manipulation of classified material:

1) Clinton herself in an email instructed an aide to remove the classified header and send via an unsecured channel.

2) Clinton's emails contained top secret data that had been cut and pasted into emails.

[SunSeeker]

57. Nope, no finding exists re cutting and pasting top secret data into Clinton emails. nt

[AtomicKitten]

58. Or, in other words, who do you believe, me or your lying eyes?

[snagglepuss]

49. If you think someone is making that stuff up than you clearly have not been following the story.

Boy are you in for a surprise.

[pugetres]

55. The State Dept hack

was a totally separate issue that occurred *after* the Hillary email scandal started. It is best not to conflate the two.

And, she did receive and send classified info. She even created some classified info using her personal email.

[Autumn]

39. Wait. Sid received classified data to/from her? Was it classified later or at the time

he sent/received e mail from her?

[AtomicKitten]

43. She sent material that was "born classified" to Blumenthal.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSKCN0QQ0BW20150821

[Autumn]

47. Wow. And the idiots wasted their time on Bengazi when that was nothing.

Interesting.

[AtomicKitten]

59. The GOP knuckleheads couldn't shoot straight other than to shoot themselves in the foot.

Here's a piece from the Observer on why this investigation matters:

Why Hillary’s EmailGate Matters
In casually disregarding basic security, Secretary Clinton harmed our country and helped our adversaries

http://observer.com/2016/01/why-hillarys-emailgate-matters/

for those anxious to impugn the source:

The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister papers The Guardian and The Guardian Weekly, whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993, it takes a social liberal or social democratic line on most issues. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.

[NWCorona]

42. And how do you know it was never hacked?

If you say the logs then you'd be mistaken.

[BernieforPres2016]

48. Nor did I

Doesn't fit with the "no security risk involved in using a private server" narrative from Hillary and the Corporate Media.

[yourpaljoey]

53. Whoa!

[Arazi]

3. !!!!

Kicked and recced

[dana_b]

7. great catch!

and holy hell... I had no idea that she had been hacked either. This is worse than I thought.

[kristopher]

21. Clinton's server was not hacked per FBI. nt

[AtomicKitten]

27. Per Bryan Pagliano, not the FBI. The FBI has not made that determination.

http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSMTZSAPEC33HF0X9N

[PoliticAverse]

29. No one can prove that a computer wasn't hacked, all you can do is find no evidence...

any hack occured.

[kristopher]

30. I read the NYT less carefully, but not wholly inaccurately.

He turned over the security logs to the FBI and told them (under threat of penalty for perjury?) that the logs were clean. While not definitive, the logs provide a good, first cut indication of the server's status.

So yes he was the source, but the information in the press seems to have some vetting by the FBI.

But I do get your point that his role is potentially very significant.

I know a lot of people here have worked with classified information so the general sense of what it's like is well known. I was in the loop for classified military intelligence information during the Iran hostage crisis. I was stationed overseas and the base had, in my last year there, turned on their military broadcast TV station.
I swear this is completely true.
It was the first time I'd seen US TV news coverage in several years and the first time I'd seen it under the influence of Turner's CNN. Anyway, it's the middle of crisis and I see I'm reading largely the same information in the classified intel as I'm watching on the TV. And it wasn't selective, either. You know how Breaking News is flashed? It was that kind of stuff just captured and spread through a system that was just secretive by nature. Think about the quantity too, at that time it was a lot of paper. Our paper shredder was the size of several dumpsters stacked up.
I guess what I'm saying is that you can, in fact, deal in two simultaneously operating spheres and the same information will legitimately be treated in completely different ways regarding its classified nature. My speculation is that she was very involved politically and professionally in the news cycle (just like we do here) but somewhere in the system someone was - then or later - tagging it as classified for some reason Clinton wouldn't have necessarily known anything about.
Anyway, that's what I hear when I hear her say it wasn't labeled classified.

Imagine if all of either of our writings on DU were examined against all the classified (and I really can't stress how much of everyday news reporting gets classified in some way) information in the system. I'd bet we'd both have more than she did because she would have been aware of the general flow of what was most sensitive and taken normal precautions when approaching boundaries.

I'm as Bernie as it gets, but I don't think the issue is criminal. I still don't think she speaks for me though. Not even a little bit.

[AtomicKitten]

44. I think it's clear she mishandled classified material.

The question now is what are they going to do about it.

[kristopher]

65. I don't think that's clear at all. For example....

...in my factually correct accounting of TV news airing undeniably "classified" information, were the news outlets guilty of mishandling classified information? If you hang your hat on freedom of the press in order to say "no" then what about people who were talking about the news on the street? Were they guilty of some sort of breach?


Of course they weren't because common sense tells you that the classification of information isn't a neat tidy affair where lines are drawn with clarity and precision.

Now maybe she did do something that isn't apparent in the available information. I think Hillary is very arrogant and that can certainly lead to the kind of judgement where a breach of security is opened. So I'm not prepared to exonerate her. I also don't like it at all that she is running without having cleared this up in an administrative fashion before the campaign started - she clearly is placing herself above the nation and the party. We see the same type of attitude in the $21M in speaking fees (read legal bribery) that she took knowing she was going to run for office.

But from what I can see of the server issue, there doesn't appear to be a crime involved.

[AtomicKitten]

66. All else aside, this is the linchpin of prosecution.

She instructed an aide to remove classified headers and send via unsecure channels. That one's a doozy. She is instructing an aide to commit a federal crime.

[kristopher]

67. I hate that you are forcing me to defend Hillary, but not necessarily.

I see how you might think it's true, but the fact that something is classified isn't the end all be all of decision making.
Not knowing the specific circumstance I'll manufacture an example of how mission needs are always part of the judgement process.

Since this is State, let's say you are in possession of classified information that is crucial for Secretary Kerry in his negotiations with Iran and the nuclear enrichment deal. The information indicates that the Iranians have a site that no one has heretofore been aware of. You are in a location where there are no secure comm facilities.
What do you do?

You weigh the potential for harm that the public revelation of that classified information might cause against the potential for harm if Sec. Kerry doesn't receive it in a timely fashion.

If you decide that notification is most important, you then seek the most secure method of transmission that IS available - an nondescript email header is one thing you might do. So to me with 8 years of operational use of material classified at all levels, that is an indication that what was taking place was in accordance with this type of scenario.

That doesn't mean the Republicans won't have a field day with it. They are unquestionably going to be 1000X more dedicated to disbelieving a legitimate reason might exist than anyone on DU.

We must have Bernie as our nominee or we are going to get creamed.

[AtomicKitten]

68. I think it's much simpler than that regarding instructing the aide to strip headers & send unsecure.

We'll have to agree to disagree on that. However, I am in full agreement that the GOP will tap dance on her face with this stuff if she is the nominee and will almost certainly go for impeachment if she makes it to the White House.

Bernie quite aside from this issue is polling much stronger than she is in head-to-head match-ups and unscathed by scandals, and would be the stronger candidate. We shall see how this plays out.

[kristopher]

69. I'm just pointing out that you should get your hopes up that this will force her out of the race.

For our part, my wife's parents have a place in Vancouver for 30+ years that they don't use very often any more. Maybe that will help us with the Canadian immigration authorities should she steal the nomination.

[AtomicKitten]

70. I have no delusions that she'd step away; she initially refused to concede when she lost in '08.

I visited Vancouver once in the early 1970s. Beautiful place. Cheers.

[Oilwellian]

11. Good Catch!

As an aside, Guccifer also hacked GWB's computer and stole a picture of his self portrait in the bathroom. Here's his Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guccifer#cite_note-tsg2-8

This is all getting very interesting. Especially the timing.

[840high]

16. ... yes

[Major Hogwash]

19. That is strange.

As far as omitting data in their article, it doesn't seem necessary to omit that part.

Unless, they paid her money and expect something in return later on.

[Optimism]

6. Damn.

Just damn.

And they want us to believe that China and Russia (and whatever other unsavory regimes) did NOT also hack into her e-mails and eye those classified or secret documents?! And even if for some unbelievable reason they didn't, the fact that this Romanian hacker could (and DID) speaks volumes as to the risk (to national security) that Hillary felt it acceptable to put us in. Incredible.

This my friends is a MAJOR scandal.

And yes, Reuters omitting that specific segment speaks volumes.

[Uncle Joe]

10. One thing I noticed during the last debate in Michigan when asked if she had sent classified emails

through her private server, Hillary stated that she never sent any e-mails "labeled as classified" but I do recall in some previous articles which stated that her assistants were told to remove the labels because they couldn't go through or something along those lines.

Hillary was parsing her words.

When I heard Hillary use the words I never sent any emails that "were labeled as classified" I couldn't help but think of Bill's phrase "it depends upon what the meaning of the word "is" is.

[tomm2thumbs]

18. someone should ask if labels were ever removed before sending or sharing

that would be a bombshell

[Betty Karlson]

31. Top class triangulation. Do you want four more years of that?

[Nuclear Unicorn]

32. Her supporters would cheer her getting away with it for no reason better than partisanship.

This is how nations die.

[Betty Karlson]

33. They have got theirs & don't care how we keep ours...

But with Sanders, we could have a national phoenix - up to and including the Phoenix's legendary power to "BERN" evil in its path.

[HereSince1628]

34. Exactly. Both Clintons are trained lawyers and understand how to insert

a phrase so that it helps them get beyond an uncritical public, slightly less than half of whom have reading skills of non-legal writings that hover at elementary school levels.

Those who grasp the weaseling nature of the power couples' language account for most of the ~60ish percent of Americans who find them untrustworthy. The practice of educating others to the wordplay of the Clintons is self-evident Hillary-hate, doncha know.

[Oilwellian]

12. Actually, he hacked Blumenthal's email account

and found the correspondence with Hillary on his computer. But the fact that they're extraditing him at the same time we hear hints of a grand jury, something is definitely up.

[Optimism]

13. Yes ...

... but even if Guccifer got those e-mails from Blumenthal's account, Hillary was responsible for them getting there in the first place! Same results.

This had all best be resolved well before the convention if Dems have any chance of winning the upcoming election. It must most definitely NOT be allowed to drag out and held up until after Hillary sews up the nomination, for then we are all screwed.

This is exactly why Bernie must stay in the race right up until the end. We need an untainted candidate if we somehow hope to beat Trump. Wouldn't it be a beautiful irony after all is said and done, that it is the Super delegates (reading the writing on the wall) who step in at the last minute and give Bernie the votes he needs to be our proud, undamaged nominee!

Maybe Sam Smith unexpectedly winning that Oscar for the Bond song was an omen after all !

[CoffeeCat]

14. Doesn't that strike you as a bit odd?

We've got a hacker from Romania, who hacked very famous people in the United States.

So, he hacked George W. Bush, Colin Powell, Leonardo DiCaprio, Steve Martin and Mariel Hemingway. And Sydney Blumenthal?

Blumenthal is well known in US political circles, but he's not a big star or a political star like his other targets.

Blumenthal strikes me as an oddity among the bunch. Sort of a "One of these things is not like the other" situation.

Hillary Clinton does fit though, as she is very well known and was Secretary of State at the time.

Is it possible that she was hacked, but they are covering up that fact?

There is so, so much about this that we do not know.

I'd like to know who was looped in to this server and who was not. I read an article about her server and it was reported that most people at State didn't even have her email address. They communicated with her via her advisers. John Kerry reportedly wasn't able to email her during an emergency situation. Was Obama aware of this private server?

[Optimism]

15. Very interesting points.

Things that make you go ... hmmmmm.

So saying that IF Obama was aware, and did nothing or looked the other way, well I'd assume he wouldn't want that knowledge to come out now and perhaps damage his legacy. Could this explain his possible implicit support of Clinton to be the nominee? Who has the goods on who ... circles within circles ... you have my back, I'll have yours ?!? It becomes so tiresome after a while.

Makes me appreciate even more a straight-shooter like Bernie. This country really needs someone like him as its leader right now.

C'mon MICHIGAN ... keep the momentum ball rolling! Everyone on board ?!

[suffragette]

50. Looks like he found backdoors to people by targeting close connections

Bush's sister to gain access to GWB's info and Blumenthal to gain access to Clinton's messages.

[yourpaljoey]

54. oooooooooooooo scary

[kristopher]

22. Where are you getting the idea HRC's server was hacked? FBI said not so. nt

[randome]

40. A 'hacker' was mentioned in the story. Therefore, the server was hacked!

That's the kind of reading comprehension and reflection that goes on at DU these days.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]A 90% chance of rain means the same as a 10% chance:
It might rain and it might not.[/center][/font][hr]

[panader0]

61. See post #27

[kristopher]

64. See post #30 link below

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1251&pid=1441581

[Aerows]

20. And here is the bomb

Classified info sitting out there for everybody under the sun.

Indictments are on the way, folks. Decide if you are going to cut off your nose to spite your face in having a Democratic nominee.

Bernie Sanders is well on his way to winning, and all of this coming out couldn't have happened at a better time - at least we won't have a candidate testifying before a grand jury.

Jesus Christ, folks. Why in the hell do you want a candidate that could be, in the midst of the campaign, indicted? That takes up a shit load of time, time where you cannot be campaigning.

Do you just want to hand it over to whatever crazy Republican gets the nomination because our candidate is deeply embroiled in a mess of shit that it interferes with the campaign?

The optics are one problem for our party as a whole, but the logistics of attempting to elect a person that will spend hours under oath?

Has the Democratic Party lost its mind?

[vdogg]

28. "Bernie Sanders is well on his way to winning...."

Umm, no he's not. Check the results tonight and on the 15th if you don't believe me. No matter how much you guys hope and wish and pray it was the case, an indictment is no more likely today than it was yesterday ( which is to say, unlikely). You have not uncovered anything the FBI didn't already know. This issue is separate and apart from the email investigation.

[Punkingal]

35. I hope you can still laugh in November.

there is nothing funny about this situation, you know. I hope it's nothing, but it is worrisome, and perception is important.

[panader0]

62. As Aerows said, indictments are on the way--keep laughing while

Hillary tries to drag the Democratic party down the drain.

[liberal_at_heart]

45. Wow. They are really getting serious aren't they? Offering immunity to staff and now

extraditing the hacker. I didn't even know that is how the information was found. Isn't that exactly why she shouldn't have used a private server? She exposed national security documents to anyone who knows how to hack.

[Dem2]

46. This wanting to see Hillary disqualified isn't the path anybody on our side should be gleefully

This wanting to see Hillary disqualified isn't the path anybody on our side should be gleefully rubbing their hands together over.

[panader0]

63. As a Bernie supporter all I want is for the truth to come out NOW

not after the voting is over. If she is innocent (which I highly doubt), let's get that proved.
If she's guilty, not just from the emails, but from the Clinton Foundation investigation stuff, then let's know now.
If, by chance, she becomes POTUS and then the shit storm breaks, it will pull this country to pieces.

[bkkyosemite]

51. Why did Hillary do it? I have a theory...She wanted Bill to know all details of her job

as much as possible. Because one day he would be in the WH again. Perhaps their plan was to know all they could know at home behind the scenes to enable them to be in a better position to win the Presidency for a second time. He would help her with her agenda. If people do not think Bill is putting words in Hillary's mouth from his own Presidency and campaign I can sell you the WH. If elected Hillary will be teaming with Bill as President. And many people are voting for her because she has a husband who will help her out because he was already President. They feel it is a security measure to have him in the WH.....

[SDJay]

60. Perhaps I'm Getting My Scandals Confused...

but does this mean that there is now a hacker being extradited and a top aide who has been given immunity by the feds?

I could be wrong on the details, but one thing I have learned over the years is that the DOJ generally does not waste time chasing ghosts, especially with someone so incredibly powerful like HRC. If they felt there was nothing, especially with a Democrat as AG, I have to think that they would've dropped this by now. If this was a POS like Ashcroft I could see this whole process continuing for political reasons. I don't see that here.

Am I right on this? If so, the pieces of the puzzle are coming together.

I really hope that whatever happens happens quickly. It would be a total disaster for this to blow up during the GE. A total fucking disaster.