“To keep it simple, let’s say there’s only one server. “You have to look at the infrastructure-the command and control sites that were used to get in that are not going to be on any server … looking at one server is just one isolated piece of infrastructure.” “To really investigate a high profile intrusion like the DNC hack, you have to look beyond the victim network,” Rid said. Rid, who wrote a detailed explanation about why Russia was likely behind the DNC hack for Motherboard in July 2016, told me that “from a forensic point of view, the question of a server at this stage doesn’t make any sense.” I called up Thomas Rid, professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies to help explain the technical details behind this type of forensic investigation. Moreover, from Vice ‘s Motherboard column: And had they really wanted it, and for some reason the DNC would not release it, the FBI could have gone to court to obtain access (although since the DNC was hacked, they had every reason to cooperate). The FBI did not need the physical server. Why did they give it to a Ukrainian company? Why. We’re not giving it to you.” They gave the server to CrowdStrike or whatever it’s called, which is a company owned by a very wealthy Ukrainian. The FBI went in and they told them, “Get out of here. They have the server, right, from the DNC, Democratic National Committee. Trump shared a more detailed version of this tale on Fox & Friends last week: There is no reason, save for the perverse logic of conspiracy theories, to spirit the thing to Ukraine. For one thing, trying to move an object internationally would have increased the chances of it being found by authorities, but more importantly, if this alleged singular server was that damning a piece of evidence, why not just destroy it? Pound to pieces with a sledgehammer, melt it in a foundry, blow it up with c4, sink it in one of the Great Lakes.
Not only was there no single server (there were actually more than 140*), it makes zero sense that anyone would have taken an item that had damning evidence on it out of the country for safekeeping. Third, the notion that “Ukraine has it” (the server) is nonsensical. This part of Trump’s theory is simply not true. In fact, he is of Russia birth and a US citizen. He isn’t, but the notion that he is is central to the theory. Second, “I guess one of your wealthy people” is nonsense based on the notion that one of the co-founders of Crowdstrike is Ukrainian. Trump frequently relies on this rhetorical device. First, it should be a tell that a person really has nothing concrete when the basis for a claim is “they say…”. There are a lot of things that went on, the whole situation. I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike… I guess you have one of your wealthy people… The server, they say Ukraine has it. Trump and one of the things that he has asked Ukraine to do relates to this mythical server.įrom the now infamous July 25 call, Trump says the following to Zelensky The most important subscribed to this theory is Donald J. Nevertheless, there is a conspiracy theory in some right-wing circles (propagated by sites like Breitbart and the Daily Caller, among others) that Ukraine framed Russia and somehow the evidence of this is one “the server” which was whisked away to hid in Ukraine (for reasons I have never seen explained). All credible information links these hacks to the Russians. It should be noted that the investigation lead to formal charges being filed against Russian nationals connected to the Russia intelligence services. As is standard practice, the DNC provided the FBI with copies of the needed data from their system. The DNC hired a consulting firm, Crowdstrike, to investigate the hack, which eventually included the FBI. Ok, so what am I talking about here? During the 2016 campaign the DNC computer systems were hacked. I tend to think he actually believes this nonsense because if conspiracy theories about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 elections were true it would remover the taint of Russia’s interference on his behalf (and would further undercut the Mueller Report).
Or, he is deliberating spreading lies that he knows to be untrue–which is just as bad. One of the disturbing elements of the current impeachment saga is the fact that the President of the United States appears to be guided by a debunked (and, indeed, nonsensical) conspiracy theory about a piece of computer hardware.