Attempt to hack email server stunned Clinton aide, FBI files show
"omg." That
was the three-letter response from top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin
-- familiar Internet shorthand for "Oh my God!" -- when Justin Cooper,
the technology pro overseeing Clinton's private home-based email
servers, told her shortly after midnight on Jan. 9, 2011, that "someone
was trying to hack us." The revelation was contained in a trove of newly released, partially redacted FBI documents
from the agency's investigation into whether Clinton mishandled
classified information -- a probe known as the "Midyear Exam." The
document release reveals numerous episodes in which the Clinton team
either suspected it had been hacked or seemingly acknowledged that
security measures had come up short. In a tense email exchange,
Cooper wrote to Abedin at 2:57 a.m. Sunday: "I had to shut down the
server. Someone was trying to hack us and while they did not get in i
didnt want to let them have the chance to. I will restart in the
morning." At 6:30 the next morning, Abedin wrote to State
Department officials -- including Clinton's chief of staff at the time,
Cheryl Mills -- "Don't email hrc [Hillary Rodham Clinton] anything
sensitive. I can explain more in person."
"omg." — Clinton aide Huma Abedin, when told of hacking attempt
Later
that year, Cooper wrote to Clinton, "It is a constant fight to keep up
with the security measures and unfortunately we keep seeing reminders of
why we need to." And in August 2010, according to the
documents, Clinton aide Monica Hanley wrote to Abedin after receiving a
suspect spam email: "Yeah I wonder if someone hacked in. that stinks." The
files also included the handwritten notes of agents' March
2016 interview with Cooper, who described the presence of a “SCIF” — an
acronym "sensitive compartmented information facility" -- in
Clinton's Chappaqua, N.Y., and Washington, D.C., homes.
Sept. 20, 2011: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talks with her
deputy chief of staff, Huma Abedin, during the Open Government
Partnership event in New York. (Reuters)
According to Cooper's comments as described in the notes, the server rooms in both locations were often left exposed. “Open door — not always secured, sometimes when HRC not @ residence was not closed. (both resid)," the notes said. The
interview document also said Cooper described "safes" in at least one
of the SCIFs, followed by a note from the agent, "No understanding of
when open/closed" -- although it was unclear whether that comment
referred to the safes or the doors leading to the server room. There
were "home computers" but "no secure computers" in the SCIFs, according
to the notes. However, "phone/fax/video" were "secure" in the
residences. Cooper, a previous FBI report said, acknowledged at
least "two instances where he destroyed Clinton's old mobile phones by
breaking them in half or hitting them with a hammer." In August,
it was reported that a Chinese state-owned company hacked Clinton’s
email server, then inserted code that forwarded a copy of virtually
every email she sent or received after that -- a revelation President
Trump demanded be investigated. The Daily Caller reported
that the firm operating in the D.C. area wrote code that was then
embedded in the server and generated a “courtesy copy” for almost all
her emails -- which were then forwarded to the Chinese company. The
code reportedly was discovered in 2015 by the Intelligence Community
Inspector General (ICIG), which then warned FBI officials of the
intrusion. A source briefed on the matter confirmed to Fox News the
details of The Caller’s reporting, and said that the ICIG was so
concerned by the revelation that officials drove over to the FBI to
inform agents -- including agent Peter Strzok, seen as a strong Trump
critic -- of the development after it was discovered via the emails'
metadata. The source told Fox News the hack was from a Chinese company, describing it as a front for Chinese intelligence. A
second source briefed on the matter told Fox News that officials
outside the FBI indicated code on the Clinton server suggested a foreign
source was receiving copies of emails in real time. The
FBI disputed the claims: “The FBI has not found any evidence the
servers were compromised,” an FBI official told Fox News at the time. However, a May 2016 email from Strzok,
obtained by Fox News last year, said “we know foreign actors obtained
access” to some Clinton emails, including at least one “secret” message
“via compromises of the private email accounts” of Clinton staffers. Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
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