10 Mar 2017 12:11 pm
Conservative media figures are embracing a wild WikiLeaks conspiracy theory that the CIA hacked the DNC, and then framed Russia.
It didn't take even 48 hours for an online conspiracy theory to make its way from the reply section of the WikiLeaks Twitter account to the prime-time airwaves on Fox News and top conservative radio programs.
On Tuesday, WikiLeaks released a batch of apparent CIA documents describing the agency's extensive cybersecurity and hacking capabilities, which appear to allow agents to hack into a variety of smart, internet-collected devices.
And as WikiLeaks began promoting its most interesting documents, a conspiracy theory was born.
The theory appeared to emerge first on WikiLeaks' Twitter account about an hour after the group released the Vault 7 documents.
Readers jumped on the tweet, leaping to the conclusion that perhaps the CIA could be responsible for the hack and release of private emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton's former campaign chair John Podesta's email account.
There are reports in media outlets from The New York Times to
Fox News showing in detail Russia's meddling in the 2016 election, including the hack and release of DNC and Podesta emails.
But this information didn't stop the theory from picking up steam among many prominent online supporters of President Donald Trump, including social-media figures like radio host Bill Mitchell and Ann Coulter.
The theory spread so fast conservative radio giant Rush Limbaugh had time to tout it on his show on March 7, when he denied Trump had any Russian campaign ties to Russia.
"The CIA has the ability to hack anybody they want and make it look like the Russians are doing it or make it look like the ChiComs are doing it or make it look like the Israelis are doing it," Limbaugh said, using a slang term for Chinese communists.
Right-wing sites weren't the only ones spreading the theory.
It was picked up by Russian state-sponsored English media outlets like Sputnik, which gleefully mocked "evidence-free" accusations that Russia hacked the election, linking to tweets "chock-full of sarcasm and memes" about the CIA's capabilities.
But it breached fully into the mainstream when Fox News host Sean Hannity floated the idea on Wednesday, first on his radio show, then on his Twitter account.
"The CIA, according to these WikiLeaks leaks, uses stolen malware to attribute cyberattacks to nations like Russia," Hannity told radio listeners.
"In other words, what they're saying is the CIA can actually blame Russia for an attack on an American, because they'll put their fingerprints all over the attack. Meanwhile it came from within."
One of the guests on Hannity's show, Retired Army Lietenant Colonel Anthony Schaffer, a torture advocate who has floated Benghazi and 9-11 conspiracy theories in the past, took it a step further, claiming he had unnamed sources described the conspiracy to him.
"Sean, we did it. Not me, but our guys, former members of NSA, retired intelligence officers used these tools to break in there and get the information out.
That’s what the Democrats don’t want to talk about because it doesn’t fit their narrative," Shaffer said.
"You're telling me this whole Russian story that the media has been running with for months and months and months — that it was our people that did it, and they put the fingerprints of the Russians on it?" Hannity asked.
"That's right," Shaffer said.
"Do you have proof of that?" Hannity asked.
"I don't have proof of that," Shaffer replied.[/quote]
LOL. he doesn't have proof of that.
But Hannity is happy to defend the Russians over his own country without any stinkin' proof.
After all, if Sputnik said it, it must be true.