The FBI "repeatedly stressed" the importance of accessing the hacked email server of the Democratic National Committee. But one senior law enforcement official now tells TheBlaze that DNC officials rejected its requests.
The news comes just hours after it was reported the FBI never examined the DNC server, which the bureau and multiple other U.S. intelligence agencies say was hacked by the Russian government, leading to the release of thousands of damning emails by WikiLeaks that some argue helped President-elect Donald Trump win the election.
“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. These actions caused significant delays and inhibited the FBI from addressing the intrusion earlier," the senior law enforcement official said Thursday night in an email.
The "third party" to which the official was referring is Crowdstrike, a California-based cybersecurity firm, hired to do the work of the FBI even though, as one law enforcement official told BuzzFeed, it's unusual for the FBI not to conduct its own forensic research.
“CrowdStrike is pretty good. There’s no reason to believe that anything that they have concluded is not accurate,” one intelligence official reportedly said.
But the latest development raises new questions as to why Democratic party leaders made the decision to deny the FBI access to its server, even while some openly questioned the legitimacy of Trump's stunning victory, and vowed to get to the bottom of who or what attempted to call into question the very bedrock of American Democracy.
The Democratic National Committee did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
