June 16, 2016

Gawker publishes what seems to be the DNC's oppo file on Trump — hacked by the Russians...

... and forwarded to Gawker by "Guccifer 2.0."

It's a 200+-page document plus "a variety of donor registries and other strategy files, 'just a few docs from many thousands I extracted when hacking into DNC’s network,' the purported hacker claimed over email, adding that he’s in possession of 'about 100 Gb of data including financial reports, donors’ lists, election programs, action plans against Republicans, personal mails, etc.'"
The enormous opposition document... appears to be a summary of the Democratic Party’s strategy for delegitimizing and undermining Trump’s presidential aspirations—at least as they existed at the end of last year.... A section titled “Top Narratives” describes a seven-pronged attack on Trump’s character and record.... “Trump has no core”... Trump is running a “divisive and offensive campaign”... Trump is a “bad businessman”... Trump espouses “dangerous & irresponsible policies”... Donald Trump is the “misogynist in chief”... Trump is an “out of touch” member of the elite...  Trump’s “personal life"....

It appears that virtually all of the claims are derived from published sources, as opposed to independent investigations or mere rumor. It’s also very light on anything that could be considered “dirt"....
Here's a second Gawker article, basically laughing at the weakness of the material, including the ludicrous problem that Trump has flip-flopped on Heaven.

You can read the whole dismal document at the first link, where there's also an update saying that the Trump campaign has taken the position that the DNC somehow hacked itself, deliberately putting this file out there as a distraction.

52 comments:

readering said...

The Trump oppo doc was prepared last November, and was probably one of 17 such documents, one for each candidate.

Carter Wood said...

This is definitely a false flag operation. The real oppo research on Trump resides on a much more secure server: Hillary's.

eric said...

Trump is probably right. The DNC realized they had nothing so decided a new story needed to be created. One where somehow the Russians are on Team Trump.

But if that's true, why do we have this document on Trump but no Hillary's emails?

Quaestor said...

Who is Guccifer 2.0? Is he the successor to the original, armed with Guccifer's hacked accounts and admin passwords?

Is Hillary still using a private server? Looks that way, doesn't it? She has a long history of not learning from experience.

Brando said...

I can't help but wonder what oppo research the Dems have on him that isn't blindingly apparent in the news. All his flip flops and statements are a matter of public record. I can't imagine they have some big bomb to drop that hasn't already been out there.

Which always brings me back to Watergate--whatever the Nixonites thought the Dems had at their HQ they must not have had after all, as no big revelations came out that year. There's a lot of theories as to what they thought the Dems had, though.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

It appears that virtually all of the claims are derived from published sources...

Or are the published sources derived from the Democrats oppo research? I would not be surprised to find newspaper stories with identical wording to the oppo research, published after the oppo research files were created.

TreeJoe said...

The DNC is screwed here - if it's truly what was stolen from their servers, then the donor list is real and they lost donor information/confidentiality. Contrary to their claims.

Larry J said...

One can be pretty confident that there's a lot of opposition research on Hillary as well. The press may not want to report on the skeletons in her closet but Trump won't hesitate to beat her mercilessly about her past. Before all is said and done, her reputation will be a bloody mess.

Hagar said...

Julian Assange gave an interview the other day and stated that Wikileaks is about to dump a load of Hillary's e-mails.

Alexander said...

Before all is said and done, her reputation will be a bloody mess.

Encouraging violence against women! This is why we NEED feminism. This is why we NEED to make history with the first female president!

Rae said...

If the Dems had anything that would immediately knock Trump out of the race - like, say, excursions to a tropical island to have sex with underage girls - they would have dumped it already.

Joking aside, I have to wonder if this IS the dump, and they thought it would work.

Matt Sablan said...

I don't think the Democrats "hacked" themselves. If none of the non-Trump files eventually find their way out, then I'll be suspicious. I do find it odd that "Trump Bad!" was the first stuff people jumped to release instead of actual news worthy stuff.

Inga said...

It's being reported that this was only a preliminary report. There is supposed to be far more. Who knows?

Matt Sablan said...

"Who knows?"

Guccifer 2.0. The Democrats.

All in all, seems a pretty blah release at the moment. Trump said things and then said other things isn't exactly hard hitting.

Mary Beth said...

If I were a hacker, Gawker would definitely be first on my list of whom to send my hacked documents.

Mary Beth said...

No, wait, I meant if I wanted someone to publish something with no questions asked, Gawker would be first on my list. Sorry for the confusion.

Bob Ellison said...

100gb of data would be about 25 hours of HD video, or about a million times more emails than any normal person writes in a lifetime, or about all of the tax returns of the entire U.S. Congress for the last thirty years.

So: unlikely.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Carter Wood said...
This is definitely a false flag operation.

If it is, it's the worst in history. Now it's not just Hillary! that we can't trust with classified information, it's the whole damn DemoRat party!

But then again, Robert Conquest may have been right.

Nonapod said...

Not seeing anything particularly surprising here, seems pretty standard. This isn't much of a big deal. The only new thing negative you might say about Hillary's campaign now is to further the story that she and her staff are horrible regarding cyber security.

traditionalguy said...

Opposition seems to be everywhere. And it's all fiction dressed up as fact.

But Trump is at the center of attention again, one more day at a time. And he did not even have to shoot anyone at Times Square to get his movement backing him up stronger and stronger.


Meanwhile, the. Appleton Flash Ryan can not touch that.

Fernandinande said...

Trump has flip-flopped on Heaven.

It's a matter of finding the stairway to it. Then going up the stairway. Then opening door #2 and going down the hall on the left.

mikeski said...

"100gb of data would be [...] unlikely."

Eh, this is the US government we're talking about, here. It's probably all scans from newspapers, in full 24-bit color at 1200dpi, and saved as uncompressed BMPs stored in PDF wrappers. The sentence "Trump is a doodyhead" would use at least 300MB.

Sydney said...

Amazing. The DNC oppo research talking points are pretty much the same as the GOP establishment's has been (was) against him.

Clayton Hennesey said...

This event singles out the Democrats as muckrakers. Sure, everyone does it, but only the Dem panties are being run up the flag pole.

In an entirely unrelated note, who's a fan of the endlessly refreshing reCaptcha?

madAsHell said...

Hold on!!?! Gawker is in bankruptcy, and now they have the stolen DNC data?

What's not to say it isn't a pure fabrication to increase their click rate??....or some other metric?

FullMoon said...

A hundred gigs would equal fifty to one hundred full length Japanese porno vids. Pretty sure Laslo can confirm.

Yancey Ward said...

In an amazing coincidence, the hacker's name is James W. McCord.

Quaestor said...

Julian Assange gave an interview the other day and stated that Wikileaks is about to dump a load of Hillary's e-mails.

Angling for an eight-figure "grant" from the Clinton Foundation, I suspect.

Big Mike said...

... the Trump campaign has taken the position that the DNC somehow hacked itself, deliberately putting this file out there as a distraction.

Pointless. Given Hillary's Email server, OPM, and CMS running a thoroughly insecure Obamacare portal, it doesn't appear that anyone anywhere in the Democrat party can be bothered to implement even the simplest levels of security on the data they hold, whether their own data or governmental data of which they are custodians. It would not surprise me if the only reason some bored 14 year old didn't hack it first is because he doesn't know what "opo" research is.

Johnathan Birks said...

The self-hack hypothesis put forth by Trump is hilarious. The DNC isn't nearly that clever.

Michael K said...

"There's a lot of theories as to what they thought the Dems had, though."

The Watergate guys were low level employees of the CREEP and knew nothing much. It did give Mark Felt the opportunity to work his plan to depose Nixon. Maybe Felt fed them some chickenfeed to stimulate the break-in. He knew how to do false flag operations.

Larry J said...

"Blogger Bob Ellison said...
100gb of data would be about 25 hours of HD video, or about a million times more emails than any normal person writes in a lifetime, or about all of the tax returns of the entire U.S. Congress for the last thirty years.

So: unlikely."

Not if it includes every episode of "The Apprentist".

Unknown said...

The Dems don't need Oppo Research on Trump as he's doing just fine going down in the polls all by himself.

Troubled Voter said...

"Dismal" LOL.

You're a complete loser, Althouse. When this is over, you're going to be remembered as someone who carried water for a racist shithead idiot.

Enjoy the rest of your stained life.

cubanbob said...

"The enormous opposition document... appears to be a summary of the Democratic Party’s strategy for delegitimizing and undermining Trump’s presidential aspirations—at least as they existed at the end of last year.... A section titled “Top Narratives” describes a seven-pronged attack on Trump’s character and record.... “Trump has no core”... Trump is running a “divisive and offensive campaign”... Trump is a “bad businessman”... Trump espouses “dangerous & irresponsible policies”... Donald Trump is the “misogynist in chief”... Trump is an “out of touch” member of the elite... Trump’s “personal life"...."

When they find Trump's equivalent to Hillary's of corruption and treason they can let us know.
If she were to be sentenced for each count consecutively the bumper sticker would read:

Hillary! 20,000 Years In Sing-Sing Tour 2016!

cubanbob said...

Troubled Voter said...
"Dismal" LOL.

You're a complete loser, Althouse. When this is over, you're going to be remembered as someone who carried water for a racist shithead idiot.

Enjoy the rest of your stained life.

6/16/16, 5:09 PM"

A drive by idiot. yes folks this loser thinks "racist" is the worst possible thing, why even worse than being a criminal and a traitor.

Roy Lofquist said...

Brando said...

"Which always brings me back to Watergate--whatever the Nixonites thought the Dems had at their HQ they must not have had after all, as no big revelations came out that year."

I've always been partial to this take:

"Silent Coup is a book written by Len Colodny and Robert Gettlin, in which they contend that former Nixon White House counsel John Dean orchestrated the 1972 Watergate burglary at Democratic National Committee headquarters to protect his future wife Maureen Biner by removing information linking her to a call-girl ring that worked for the DNC."

As I remember, the final 1/3 of the book was filled with endnotes and citations.

Who knows? But this one seemed to be more plausible than most others theories.

Unknown said...

Reuters 5-day rolling poll to June 14 2016: Clinton 44%, Trump 33%, Other/Non-voters/Refused 22%

tim in vermont said...

Where is the pool of voters that are going to go to Clinton? Basically everybody who does not hate her is already signed up. Where is she going to get the rest?

tim in vermont said...

Amazing that Clinton can only get to 44%. What do you Democrats owe her that you will go with a candidate that can't get out of the low 40s against Trump?

Michael K said...

"You're a complete loser, Althouse. When this is over, you're going to be remembered as someone who carried water for a racist shithead idiot.

Enjoy the rest of your stained life."

"Profile Not Available"

Another Hillary troll.

mikee said...

I, for one, do not at all look forward to Putin making President Hillary Clinton dance like a chicken on a hot stovetop, using her own emails to coerce her into favorable behavior.

Would that someone in the US had all her emails and could do the same to her, but for our benefit.

shiloh said...

"If the Dems had anything that would immediately knock Trump out of the race - like, say, excursions to a tropical island to have sex with underage girls - they would have dumped it already."

Why would the Dems want Trump out of the Race?

He's manna from heaven, whether or not he flip-flopped on heaven notwithstanding.

Praise be Jesus!

Lewis Wetzel said...

mikee said...

Would that someone in the US had all her emails and could do the same to her, but for our benefit.

Hence the private server. If an American hacked it, he/she would face long prison time. Unavailable for FOIA requests, and any American hacker is deterred. Criminal, but clever.

D. said...

>Why would the Dems want Trump out of the Race?<

because the server shows what a total fuck up hillarity is

D. said...

trump: he likes america. hillarity: she likes clinton cash.

Lewis Wetzel said...

The Trump convention should be entertaining drama.
The Dem convention will be a bore or violent drama. If Trump comes out of the convention as the GOP candidate, possibly with a VP who makes up for his weak understanding of conservative governance, he might get a good bump. Hillary will probably pick Perez or Julian Castro as VP, which will get her glowing editorials, but the voters won't care. She will not pick a VP that will make up for her high distrust / unfavorable numbers. Neither Perez or Castro speaks Spanish as their first language. I don't know about Perez, but Castro is said to not speak Spanish well. Castro is quite proud of the fact that he was an Affirmative Action law school admit.

Zach said...

So the opposition research is just the equivalent of a Lexis Nexus search? (does Lexis Nexus still exist?) The DNC is getting lazy.

Anthony said...

I skimmed the table of contents. The only thing they've got which might be damaging to Trump if they can make it stick is "Trump is just like other Republicans".

Anonymous said...

Or is it a trumpian tactic to defang the press, once published in his style it becomes useless? Sure looks that way, or at least it will have the same result. Either way the press has to start over and find some new facts or rumors to defeat your pTb. Or they can crib from Limbaugh, because he tries to report both sides so there’s lot crib from. Even if you label him a buffoon, that buffoon’s truth or entertainment has a lot of listeners that eat it up that could be your readers other than his customers must not chose you for some reason. Perhaps because he’s careful to note his own certainty from not, Everything in the opo file shows considerable spinning to put your pTb in the most unfavorable light presented as fact which is why is so flagrant it puts your reader off, so ok, it’s spun but it doesn’t matter such is life, both sides have to deal with it. In the primary, all your pTb did was bundle up everything the press had in their quiver to hit whomever came out of the convention and instead of waiting he hit each candidate with spitball with a memorable phrase that was almost always politically incorrect or cruel which had that element of truth that would be deadly in general campaign because your Mr. C. actually lied about saying h didn’t support the PTT, but ended up voting for it after putting a poison pill in it, but the electorate stopped listening after the “but” too bad but that makes you a lying Ted, better to fix it now with your pTb throwing the spitball than lose in the general since the yellow press would use it as effectively as your pTb did. in the past this also meant the opposition was prohibited for being so crass or crude which was painful to the candidate but if they could have dealt with it decisively they could have survived to the convention and perhaps survive the general only to be defeated by Ms. H. after the Media delivered their 1000 papercuts they’ve always delivered after the convention to let them pick the candidates, up and down the staircase. The conservatives never had a chance against all this firepower, and even when they had majorities they were never decisive enough that they had no choice but compromise to the left, even Mr. Reagan. Remember how the left held his Star Wars initiative which would free all those Russian slaves, but held that hostage to their spending programs. So he decided to bankrupt the US as the cost of freeing all those people. A price he was willing to pay assuming our children and capitalism driven by a free people and their free enterprise could make it all back. Little did he know what the cost of freeing all those slaves would be.

Anonymous said...

(contuing after word limit)

Which is why no matter who was elected you’ve not had a conservative government since Ike. But such is life. There’s a small chance now. Your pTb has raised the price of not covering him truthfully so high he can’t be ignored. the other candidates should be required to pay his rates, generate the same revenues be it in advertising buys or providing good entertainment to generate the same revenues from advertising, they could adopt Mr.T’s. behavior of telling the truth as believed by the majority of the electorate in a slice and dice fashion. He has made the media a billion dollars, by using his fame and name draw like an actor to draw viewers to those he blesses with his presence. So he’s well within his rights to pick and choose and abuse those who take his money that abuse him. The fact that his opposition and donors cannot come within 1% of matching that is their own fault for not providing truthful or fair coverage. He couldn’t get away with calling them sleaze if it wasn’t true, at least in the eyes of their average viewer. Who are always drawn to blood. Payback is a b…. own it. You did it too yourself. Put on your big boy pants or if old communists your depends too. Couldn’t happen to a nicer group of slave-owners. Why did Russia need a wall and would shoot people trying to escape? You figure it out. Why are people south of the border trying to get into the U.S? Another easy question. Seems you should be doing the same thing to their governments as you did to the politburo. Free those people and then maybe that’d have a reason to stay. Especially since you're such an easy target. You've made it impossible to start a business in U.S. No such problem in China or the other Asian tigers A day or two and no punitive taxes and slight regulation. No wonder you have no jobs left. Even though Asia had employed dozens of oxford and Harvard trade wizards that fix Japan and the Tigers trade deficits, there were no adults home in the WH or State department to negotiate with, just kids out of school who spent half their time across the street helping the campaign. And so their answer was poor your money into the campaign either directly or through these corporations and we’ll get back to you and they never did. So both Clintons are directly responsible for the trade deficits because the children had no clue how to repeat the Success of the Japanese, Taiwanese, Korean, and even Chinese trade deals other administrations had done. No magic to this, just need more competence than kids or a leadership willing to hire those smarter than they are, knowing your limits. Henry Kissinger offered to help but they said not only, no, but He!! No, it would impact our campaign coffers. You reap what you sow.

damikesc said...

I can't help but wonder what oppo research the Dems have on him that isn't blindingly apparent in the news. All his flip flops and statements are a matter of public record. I can't imagine they have some big bomb to drop that hasn't already been out there.

I'm less than stunned that nobody in the media is asking if a hacker hacked the DNC's servers, with a much likely better IT team --- why would anybody suspect Hillary's wasn't hit hard and frequently?

The DNC is screwed here - if it's truly what was stolen from their servers, then the donor list is real and they lost donor information/confidentiality. Contrary to their claims.

But Hillary's server? Totally secure.

You're a complete loser, Althouse. When this is over, you're going to be remembered as someone who carried water for a racist shithead idiot.

Yeah, we're all aware she voted for Obama. That was eight years ago. Move on.