The
FBI struck back at the Democratic National Committee on Thursday,
accusing it of denying federal
investigators access to its computer
systems and hamstringing its investigation into the infiltration of DNC
servers by Russia-backed hackers.
“The FBI repeatedly stressed to DNC
officials the necessity of obtaining direct access to servers and data,
only to be rebuffed until well after the initial compromise had been
mitigated. This left the FBI no choice but to rely upon a third party
for information,” a senior law enforcement official told BuzzFeed News
in a statement. “These actions caused significant delays and inhibited
the FBI from addressing the intrusion earlier.”
The DNC said the FBI had never asked for access to their hacked
servers, BuzzFeed News reported on Wednesday.
A DNC source familiar with the investigation tried to downplay that
report on Thursday, hours before the FBI statement was issued. The fact
that the FBI didn’t have direct access to the servers was not
“significant,” the source said.
“I just don’t think that that’s really material or an important thing,”
the source continued. “They had what they needed. There are always
haters out here.”
