We’ve got a lot of news and notes of concern — both good and bad — about the 2020 elections on today’s BradCast. [Audio link posted below.]
Among the many stories covered today…
- Former Vice-President Joe Biden finally announces that he’s getting into the crowded 2020 race for the Democratic Presidential nomination. His “stirring” announcement video takes on Donald Trump directly, in a way that other candidates have largely avoided to date. Whether that will be a winning strategy, of course, remains to be seen for the man many consider to be a front-runner at this early point in the contest;
- Hillary Clinton pens a worthy op-ed in the Washington Post, with her personal recommendations on how to best take on the question of whether Trump should be impeached in the wake of damning findings of criminality by the President in Robert Mueller’s Special Counsel report, as well as how best to work to protect the 2020 election from interference — at least from foreign sources;
- George Conway, the conservative attorney husband of White House senior adviser/Trump apologist Kellyanne Conway, once again wins Twitter by citing Clinton’s oped to slam both the President and, by extension, his own dissembling wife. He also cites another article detailing yet another new international embarrassment courtesy of Trump, to help his new, apt moniker for the President, #DerangedDonald, trend on Twitter;
- Big news out of Michigan breaking today as a three-judge federal court panel finds district maps created by GOP state legislators in 2011 to be unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders. The court has now ordered the state to redraw as many as 34 state legislative and Congressional districts and even hold a number of special state Senate elections under the new maps in 2020, rather than in 2022 as previously scheduled. Though a decade or so late, it’s still very good news for Michigan voters, though Republicans plan to appeal in hopes of stalling until the U.S. Supreme Court comes down with their verdict on two other cases of similar partisan gerrymanders in North Carolina and Maryland this June;
- The New York Times publishes a very disturbing — if not surprising in the least — exposé revealing that recently-fired DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen was rebuffed, time and again, by Donald Trump and other senior White House officials, in her efforts to convene cabinet level meetings on a strategy to protect the 2020 election from cyber-manipulation by Russia and other foreign sources. The exceedingly insecure Trump, according to the report, sees any such efforts to harden defenses against the threat of cyber-intrusions by Russia as a way of casting doubt on the legitimacy of his 2016 victory…for some reason;
- Finally, Desi Doyen joins us for the latest Green News Report, as the second monster cyclone in a month bears down on Mozambique (the one just weeks ago killed a thousand people and has resulted in an extraordinary humanitarian crisis — this new one could be even worse), along with other troubling climate change news from around the globe as well as some encouraging news here at home as Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announces plans for the city’s very own Green New Deal…
CLICK TO LISTEN OR DOWNLOAD SHOW!…
[audio:http://bradblog.com/audio/BradCast_BradFriedman_BidenIn_GeorgeConwayTwitter_MIGerrymanderNixed_NielsenRussiaRebuff_042519.mp3]
(Snail mail support to “Brad Friedman, 7095 Hollywood Blvd., #594 Los Angeles, CA 90028” always welcome too!)
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Mueller Report: ‘At least one Florida county’ hacked and accessed by Russian intelligence
Steven LemongelloContact Reporter
Orlando Sentinel
he FBI believes �at least one Florida county� was infiltrated in 2016 with malicious software sent out by Russian intelligence agents, according to the Mueller Report released Thursday.
But the Florida Secretary of State�s office maintained its elections systems weren�t hacked, adding that the FBI hasn�t told the state which county they believe was compromised.
The report states that in November 2016, Russian intelligence officials �sent spearphishing emails to over 120 email accounts used by Florida county officials responsible for administering the 2016 U.S. election.�
The emails contained an attached Word document with malicious �Trojan� software that would have permitted Russian intelligence to access the infected computer, the report states.
Mueller Report: What’s it like to be phished by Russian spies? Volusia found out
On Thursday, Volusia County sent to the Orlando Sentinel an image of the email without its infected attachments. It purported to be from Tallahassee-based VR Systems.and asked elections office officials to �please take a look at the instructions for our modernized products. Best regards, VR Systems Inc.�
Volusia County elections supervisor Lisa Lewis said Thursday the office opened one of the infected emails in 2016, but not the attachment needed for the malicious software to compromise its systems.
Sarah Revell, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Laurel Lee, said in a statement Thursday the department �has no knowledge or evidence of any successful hacking attempt at the county level during the 2016 elections.�
�Upon learning of the new information released in the Mueller Report, the Department immediately reached out to the FBI to inquire which county may have been accessed, and they declined to share this information with us,� Revell wrote. �The Department maintains that the 2016 elections in Florida were not hacked. The Florida Voter Registration System was and remains secure, and official results or vote tallies were not changed.�
The new information in the report goes a step beyond the initial reporting in 2017 that Florida counties were at least targeted.
An Intercept report based on a leaked National Security Agency document revealed that the Russian intelligence hack targeted VR Systems, which provided the software used in Volusia, Osceola and 50 other Florida counties to identify voters when they go to a polling location.
At the time, Amber Smith of the Osceola County Elections Office said her office did not receive the phishing email, while then-Seminole Supervisor of Elections Michael Ertel said Seminole did not use the specific type of software targeted,
The current Seminole County elections supervisor, Chris Anderson, confirmed in a statement Thursday that the county did not receive the phishing email described in the report.
Orange County elections supervisor Bill Cowles also said Orange didn�t use VR Systems� software in 2016.
A full image of the phishing email sent to Volusia County Elections Office in 2016, including attachments. The Mueller Report states the FBI believes Russian intelligence accessed at least one Florida county via this email. Volusia County Supervisor of Elections (Volusia County Supervisor of Elections)
In South Florida, Palm Beach County did not use VR Systems software in the 2016 elections, said spokeswoman Alison Leitheuser on Thursday.
Miami-Dade used VR systems for voter check-in and registration, but not for posting election night results, officials said. Broward County used VR Systems software for posting its election night results.
Broward County Supervisor of Elections Pete Antonacci said his information technology director was not aware of any phishing attempts over the November 2016 election.
Robert Rodriguez, assistant deputy elections supervisor in Miami-Dade County, also said his office has no indications �of possible or actual elections systems compromise from internal monitoring or external parties.�
Back in September 2016, elections officials in all of Florida�s 67 counties took part in a call with FBI officials, who warned about possible hacking attempts meant to tamper with the election.
Cowles said that while Orange didn�t contract with VR Systems in 2016, the County Commission approved a contract with the company in the past month and will switch over to VR Systems by the end of the year.
Cowles said 65 of 67 Florida counties now use the company�s software, up from 52 in 2016, and the last two counties, Palm Beach and Sarasota, are in negotiations to do so as well.
Last year, then-U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., warned that Russians had gained access to Florida voter data. But he declined to identify which counties had been penetrated, saying the information was classified. No other officials backed up Nelson�s claim. He could not be immediately reached on Thursday.
While he didn�t comment on the specifics offered by Nelson last year, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., warned repeatedly that �state election systems are potentially vulnerable to Russian cyber attacks.� Rubio wasn�t available for comment on Thursday.
The Mueller Report also stated that on August 22, 2016, the Russian intelligence-affiliated �Guccifer 2.0� group �transferred approximately 2.5 gigabytes of Florida-related data stolen from the DCCC [Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee] to a U.S. blogger covering Florida politics.�
The Wall Street Journal reported in 2017 that blogger Aaron Nevins of �HelloFLA� set up a Dropbox account to receive exactly that amount of data from Guccifer 2.0. The data included Democratic strategies for Florida congressional candidates.
South Florida Sun Sentinel staff writers Anthony Man and Lawrence Barszewski contributed to this report. slemongello@orlandosentinel.com, 407-418-5920, @stevelemongello, facebook/stevelemongello
Perhaps Chris Kobach was a Russian agent?
If he was, maybe people would give a hoot about GOP election-rigging.
But, nah.