Politics - News Analysis

Russians Hacked SDNY U.S. Attorney’s Office: From Election Season to Just Prior to Jan. 6th, Did They Know It Was Appreciated?

We generally like being right because it proves our value to the readers. But we would have loved to have been proven wrong when we noted during our “Goodbye Kushner” article that Kush and Trump’s “open” relationship with Russia, the same one that allowed Russia to do practically anything without repercussions, led to a computer hack of the U.S. government that back in late January led officials to say it could be years, to a decade to ensure that the Russians had no access.

Before we make our generalized accusation, there is no “proof” that Kushner and Trump bear any responsibility for the Russian hack of the U.S. Attorney’s office in SDNY. We will note that this office would be the second most likely to be investigating Trump and ties to Russia, just behind main Justice. SDNY is also the office that went after many of the major Trump players. It is a gold mine if the Russians gained entrance.

And they went after specific attorneys. Hats off to Rawstory:

“The department said 80% of Microsoft email accounts used by employees in the four U.S. attorney offices in New York were breached. All told, the Justice Department said 27 U.S. Attorney offices had at least one employee’s email account compromised during the hacking campaign,” the Associated Press reported.

That would include the Southern District of New York office in Manhattan that was once led by Rudy Giuliani — and is now investigating the former mayor. It is also the office that prosecuted Michael Cohen.

So 27 total and four from SDNY, that doesn’t sound like a net, that sounds more like a hook for certain fish, wanting specific information, but again we’re speculating based on the information in front of us.

The Justice Department said in a statement that it believes the accounts were compromised from May 7 to Dec. 27, 2020. Such a timeframe is notable because the SolarWinds campaign, which infiltrated dozens of private-sector companies and think tanks as well as at least nine U.S. government agencies, was first discovered and publicized in mid-December,” the Associated Press reported.

What a fascinating time period. One almost wonders whether someone was collecting evidence to get back to Trump or other Americans. But that’s pure speculation. Weird, though, it covers the period right up through when MTG walked out of the meeting in the White House in late December, a meeting about January 6th, but then the Russians shut down the operation entirely. How odd.

It almost looks like the Russians wanted to know if there was anything coming down the pike that might impact the elections, prior to the election, and once they understood a plan was underfoot for January 6th. They then got out.

We know three things with certainty: 1. There is no reason to think that the Russians feared any accountability from the Trump administration, 2. The timing couldn’t possibly be stranger. And 3. That office handled a lot of “Trump interest” stuff.

Almost seems as though the Russians knew it was appreciated.. If so, Thanks, Trump, and Thanks, Jared. We warned you.

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[email protected] and on Twitter @JasonMiciak

meet the author

Jason Miciak is a political writer, features writer, author, and attorney. He is originally from Canada but grew up in the Pacific Northwest. He now enjoys life as a single dad raising a ridiculously-loved young girl on the beaches of the Gulf Coast. He is very much the dreamy mystic, a day without learning is a day not lived. He is passionate about his flower pots and studies philosophical science, religion, and non-mathematical principles of theoretical physics. Dogs, pizza, and love are proof that God exists. "Above all else, love one another."

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