NYT: Russian hack didn’t immediately raise alarms with FBI

Russia’s hacking of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) during the presidential election did not instantly raise concerns at the FBI or the Department of Justice, according to a comprehensive report published online  Saturday by The New York Times. 

{mosads}It took months for the FBI to meet with DNC officials to discuss the breach, the report said.

At the time, the FBI was more focused on its investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server during her tenure as secretary of state.

A number of other U.S. organizations had been victimized by Russian hackers, and the attack on the DNC didn’t seem that unusual in that context, the Times reported. 

It would be more than a year later that the FBI would conclude that this was not just an attack by Russia meant to meddle with the U.S. election. 

As Comey testified to Congress earlier this year, the FBI came around to believing that Russia sought to influence the election in favor of President Trump and against Clinton. 

The FBI is now conducting that investigation, and separately two congressional committees are looking into the issue. 

Clinton and other Democrats have blamed Comey and the FBI for their loss in last year’s election, arguing he put too much attention on her emails and not enough attention on Russia.

Just more than a week before the election, Comey announced he was essentially re-opening the investigation into Clinton because new emails had been found through a separate FBI prove of former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.), who was married to top Clinton aide Huma Abedin.