(Joshua Paladino, Headline USA) The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which operates under the Defense Department, may have pushed the lie that Russia hacked the Democratic National Committee in 2016, the Washington Examiner reported.
Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., asked DARPA Director Stefanie Tompkins to reveal information about “recent reports” that “have raised questions about whether an individual doing research on behalf of” DARPA “investigated the 2016 hack.”
The Republican Senators questioned Tompkins because special counsel John Durham, who is investigating the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, sought evidence from a computer expert about DARPA’s knowledge of the cyber attack.
When new evidence from Durham’s investigation became public, DARPA rejected claims that it helped trace the DNC hack to Russia or helped spread that false narrative.
Durham indicted Hillary Clinton’s former lawyer Michael Sussmann for lying to the FBI about his clients when he pushed the false idea that the Trump Organization and the Russian Alfa Bank had a secret communication network.
During the investigation, Durham learned that Sussmann’s other client, former Neustar executive Rodney Joffe had “exploited” the internet traffic at “the Executive Office of the President of the United States.”
The Justice Department indicated that Durham may be investigating Joffe for using DARPA to commit fraud.
In the court filing, Durham said Joffe hired two computer experts, Manos Antonakakis and David Dagon. Joffe then “tasked” them with crafting “an inference” and “narrative” about Trump-Russia collusion.
Durham claimed that Joffe may have done this to please “VIPs” in the Clinton campaign.
“The DNC hack occurred during the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, which was marked by claims of meddling by foreign actors,” Grassley and Johnson said on April 28. “Some of those claims have since been confirmed to be disinformation efforts by operatives from the Democratic campaign.”
