The false emails first came to light two months ago, shortly after the Democratic convention in Philadelphia and the initial WikiLeaks dump of DNC emails. On Aug. 2, at 5:43 a.m., New York Times reporter Yamiche Alcindor got a chatty email from the DNC address of Mark Paustenbach, the DNC’s press secretary. “Hi Yamiche,” it began. “Long story short … Tim Kaine wants to submit an Opted [sic] and get it in ASAP.” It added that Brazile would be sending “the final draft” shortly. Alcindor responded later that morning. “Hey Mark, I’m just seeing this. I’ll email my editors right now and get back to you.” (A Times spokeswoman confirmed that Alcindor got the email from Paustenbach’s address.)
The response from the Times reporter surprised Paustenbach, who immediately alerted DNC security, noting that the language in the original message “is clearly not mine.” Later, a proposed op-ed under Kaine’s byline was sent from Brazile’s address to Alcindor. The content was preposterous. (“When it comes to selecting a future Vice President, it’s almost a tradition to pick someone that helps make you as the presidential candidate look better,” it read. “It’s like when you go to a club, and you see those hot girls next to their boring ugly friends. I’m the boring ugly friend. I’m the one that doesn’t get drugged at the bar, because no one wants to touch me with a fifty-foot pole.”
The Times, of course, never ran the phony op-ed. But the DNC was on notice that they had become sitting ducks for Internet trolls. |
