Republican Congressman Steve King sent out a rather interesting tweet on Monday morning.
The eight-term Iowa congressman seemed to suggest in his tweet that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and National Security Agency (NSA) “leaked” information about the involvement of Russian hackers in the 2016 election. The tweet included a link to a story headlined “US Intel Vets Dispute Russia Hacking Claims” from an obscure website called consortiumnews.com. Founded in 1995 by journalist Robert Parry, the website claims to be an independent online investigative journalism magazine “meant to be a home for important, well-reported stories and a challenge to the inept but dominant mainstream news media of the day.”
The article is from earlier in December and claims to be written by a number of former members of the U.S. Intelligence Community. The basic conclusion is the data released on the DNC and Clinton “were leaked by an insiders …” meaning the data could have come from “ … anyone in a government department or agency with access to NSA databases, or perhaps someone within the DNC.”
The assessment linked to by Congressman King in the tweet is at odds with a joint report released last week by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security that essentially lays out how the Russian civilian and military intelligence Services cyber operations, including “spearphishing campaigns targeting government organizations, critical infrastructure entities, think tanks, universities, political organizations, and corporations leading to the theft of information.”
At the same time the report was released, President Barack Obama announced additional sanctions against Russia and booted 35 Russian “diplomats” from the United States. The U.S. State Department also ordered the removal of Russians from two massive compounds in New York and Maryland, with FBI Agents later seen removing item from both estates.
A Russian Ilyushin Il-96 aircraft left the United States on Sunday morning from Dulles International Airport with the expelled diplomats on board.
LawNewz.com reached out to Congressman King’s office and emailed two of his top aides, but did not receive a response by press time. We will update the story if we receive a reply.
[image via screengrab]