The Russians are at this again, this time turning their attention to hacking Burisma Holdings in an attempt to interfere in this election.
At least, that’s the narrative.
As few will need to be reminded, Burisma is the Ukrainian energy company whose board Hunter Biden sat on, collecting $83k per month for the role. A new report published today by Area 1 Security alleges that a phishing campaign by Russia’s military intelligence agency GRU targeted Burisma, tricking some employees into revealing their login credentials. Presumably, we’re to believe that this was with the goal of finding dirt on Joe Biden.
While this report is making headlines as the “BOMBSHELL” of the day, the report acknowledges it “doesn’t make any claims as to what the intent of the hackers were, what they might have been looking for, what they are going to do with their success.” So, there’s that – and the obvious fact that this is not a finding of U.S. intelligence.
There are some other reasons to be skeptical too, as the Institute of World Politics’ Jordan Schachtel laid out.
First "expert" cited in story has his gender pronouns in his bio and worked in Obama admin… Prob not a Trump guy! pic.twitter.com/2xuyY04bvY
— Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) January 14, 2020
Biden official with the quote!
"Now we know that Vladimir Putin also sees Joe Biden as a threat," says Andrew Bates, a spokesman for the Biden campaign.
Sounds legit!
— Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) January 14, 2020
Homies with Mr. Crowdstrike himself? pic.twitter.com/Juuub9G9ch
— Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) January 14, 2020
1 more note: This dude's company is delivering security services to half of 2020 dems, & they say they are charging minimal $.
Why would a private org do pro bono security work?
Biden camp & contractor bouncing back same message.
Zero neutral sources. Terrible journalism. pic.twitter.com/2gYBtG6hPW
— Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) January 14, 2020
When are you going to add to your story the crucial fact that security company making this claim is working basically pro bono for the Biden campaign?
Did you ask why they'd do this?
Who made the decision to publish this with zero unbiased sources? https://t.co/0bL4avkgYm
— Jordan Schachtel (@JordanSchachtel) January 14, 2020
Does any of this prove their findings wrong outright? No – but it does show a level of bias on their part, and it’s something that no journalists bothered mentioning in their reporting on this “bombshell.”
It is of course no secret that Russia interferes in foreign elections – but at least liberals are dropping the argument that Trump colluded with them in regard to this specific alleged case. For now…
