Global Information2016 United States election leaks information
| Part of Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections | |
 Donald Trump (left) and Hillary Clinton (right) | |
| Date | July 13, 2016 (first acknowledgement) |
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| Also known as | 2016 Democratic National Committee email leak |
| Type | Cybercrime |
| Cause | Computer hacking |
| Motive | Election interference |
| Target | DNC servers |
| Perpetrator | Guccifer 2.0, DCLeaks and WikiLeaks |
| First reporter | Vice The Washington Post |
| Accused | Russian GRU |
| Trump–Russia relations |
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 2016 U.S. presidential election | |
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| Republican Party | |
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| Democratic Party | |
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| Third parties | |
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| Related races | |
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The 2016 United States election leaks were a series of publications of more than 150,000 stolen emails and other files during the U.S. presidential election campaigns released by Guccifer 2.0, DCLeaks and WikiLeaks.[1] Computer hackers allegedly affiliated with the Russian military intelligence service (GRU)[2] infiltrated information systems of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), and Clinton campaign officials, notably chairman John Podesta, and leaked some of the stolen materials.[3][4][5] Emails from Guccifer 2.0 to journalists suggest a link to DCLeaks, and messages WikiLeaks exchanged with Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks suggest both submitted emails to WikiLeaks.[6]
Guccifer 2.0 released Democrats' files related to their House of Representatives candidates in Florida, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Ohio, Illinois, New Mexico and North Carolina,[7] and documents stolen from John Podesta's mailbox[1] and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's hacked personal computer.[8][9] Guccifer 2.0 also gave reporters a password to access private files on DCLeaks[1] and released information about Republican donors and opposition research about Sarah Palin[10] and Donald Trump.[11] DCLeaks released emails from Republican targets including the 2016 campaign staff of Arizona Senator John McCain, and South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham.[12][13] DCLeaks also released information about more than 200 Democratic lawmakers,[14] the emails of the former NATO supreme commander in Europe[15][16] and files from the George Soros' Open Society Foundation.[17][18]
The emails and documents leaked from the Democratic Party's national committee (DNC) resulted in allegations that the DNC was biased against Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign.[19][20] The revelations prompted the resignation of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz before the 2016 Democratic National Convention.[21] These releases caused significant harm to the Clinton campaign, and have been cited as a potential contributing factor to her loss in the general election against Donald Trump.[22] Podesta's emails shed light on the inner workings of the Clinton campaign and suggested that CNN commentator Donna Brazile had shared audience questions with the Clinton campaign in advance of town hall meetings.[23][24] The emails also contained excerpts from three Clinton speeches to Goldman Sachs and an internal campaign document cataloging potentially problematic portions of over 50 paid speeches.[25][26]
On July 13, 2018, an indictment was made[by whom? – Discuss] against 12 Russian GRU military officers; it alleged that Guccifer 2.0 and DCLeaks were part of a Russian military operation to interfere in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The indictment also alleged that the Russian operation provided the emails to WikiLeaks. Wikileaks said its source was not the Russian government or a state party and the Russian government said it had no involvement.
- ^ a b c Satter, Raphael; Donn, Jeff; Day, Chad (November 4, 2017). "Inside Story: How Russians Hacked the Democrats' Emails: How did Russian hackers pry into Clinton campaign emails? Huge effort made quick work". US News. Associated Press. Archived from the original on April 21, 2021. Retrieved November 28, 2017.
- ^ "Does a BEAR Leak in the Woods?". ThreatConnect | Smarter Security for Maximum Impact. August 12, 2016. Archived from the original on August 20, 2022. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
- ^ "Tracking The Hackers Who Hit DNC, Clinton". The Smoking Gun. August 12, 2016. Archived from the original on August 20, 2022. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
- ^ "Russian-Linked Group Leaks US Lawmakers' Phone Numbers, Emails". Defense One. August 15, 2016. Archived from the original on August 20, 2022. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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- Full Mueller Report With Redactions, The Intercept, April 18, 2019 https://theintercept.com/document/2019/04/18/mueller-report/
- Lee, Micah (July 18, 2018). "What Mueller's Latest Indictment Reveals About Russian and U.S. Spycraft". The Intercept. https://theintercept.com/2018/07/18/mueller-indictment-russian-hackers/
- Poulsen, Kevin (April 18, 2019). "Mueller Report: Assange Smeared Seth Rich to Cover for Russians". The Daily Beast. https://www.thedailybeast.com/mueller-report-julian-assange-smeared-seth-rich-to-cover-for-russians "Julian Assange not only knew that a murdered Democratic National Committee staffer wasn't his source for thousands of hacked party emails, he was in active contact with his real sources in Russia's GRU months after Seth Rich's death. At the same time he was publicly working to shift blame onto the slain staffer "to obscure the source of the materials he was releasing," Special Counsel Robert Mueller asserts in his final report on Russia's role in the 2016 presidential election."
- Nilsen, Ella (July 13, 2018). "The Mueller indictments reveal the timing of the DNC leak was intentional". Vox. https://www.vox.com/2018/7/13/17569030/mueller-indictments-russia-hackers-bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-democratic-national-convention
- ^ Sanger, David (July 15, 2018). "Tracing Guccifer 2.0's Many Tentacles in the 2016 Election". New York Times.
- ^ Uchill, Joe (August 31, 2016). "Guccifer 2.0 leaks docs from 'Pelosi's PC'". The Hill. Retrieved March 15, 2018.
- ^ "DCCC Docs from Pelosi's PC". Guccifer 2.0. August 31, 2016. Archived from the original on August 31, 2016. Retrieved March 15, 2018 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ Uchill, Joe (July 13, 2016). "Guccifer 2.0 releases new DNC docs". The Hill. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
- ^ Uchill, Joe (July 18, 2016). "New Guccifer 2.0 dump highlights 'wobbly Dems' on Iran deal". The Hill. Retrieved July 27, 2016.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
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:27was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Riley, Michael (August 11, 2016). "Russian Hackers of DNC Said to Nab Secrets From NATO, Soros". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg News. Archived from the original on August 14, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
- ^ Hattem, Julian (August 15, 2016). "Thousands of Soros docs released by alleged Russian-backed hackers". thehill.com. The Hill. Archived from the original on August 17, 2022. Retrieved August 30, 2016.
- ^ "Why it's entirely predictable that Hillary Clinton's emails are back in the news". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 12, 2016.
- ^ Blake, Aaron (July 24, 2016). "Here are the latest, most damaging things in the DNC's leaked emails". The Washington Post.
- ^ Martin, Jonathan; Rappeport, Alan (July 24, 2016). "Debbie Wasserman Schultz to Resign D.N.C. Post". The New York Times.
- ^ "How Much Did WikiLeaks Hurt Hillary Clinton?". FiveThirtyEight. December 23, 2016. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
The evidence suggests WikiLeaks is among the factors that might have contributed to her loss, but we really can't say much more than that.
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:21was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Carrk, Tony. "HRC Paid Speeches Flags". WikiLeaks. Archived from the original on November 8, 2021. Retrieved August 17, 2022.