Russia Hoax 2024: Politico “Hacking Blind Spot” Debunked by New Hampshire Secretary of State – So Who’s Really Spreading Mis-, Dis-, and Mal-Information?

Last week, the “Russia, Russia, Russia” narrative re-emerged from the depths of 2017.  Several indictments were unsealed by the DOJ alleging Russian interference, while the Biden Regime launched a “Whole of Government Action” to “purge the system of Russian Propaganda.”  The Mockingbird Media rolled out the ‘A-Team’ of ‘Russia-Hoax’ promoters to cover these new efforts, including Jim Acosta and Ken Dilanian, desperate for vindication after they got caught with their proverbial “pants down” after the infamous “51 Spies Who Lie” letter duped them into promulgating 2020 election interference and the subsequent obfuscation of the Trump administration.  Speaking of “pants down”, Brian Stelter, another Russia hoaxer, was recently rehired by CNN.

Now the fodder is being handed out these promoters in ‘Russia-Hoax: Part Duex.’  One DOJ indictment last week alleges that “two RT Employees” were “Covertly Funding and Directing [a] U.S. Company that Published Thousands of Videos in Furtherance of Russian Interests.”  This indictment alleged that podcast hosts, believed to be Benny Johnson, Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Lauren Southern and Lauren Chen, were unwitting promoters of “hidden Russian messaging,” despite no accusations that their podcast content was being coerced by anyone.

Another indictment was issued against five members of Russia’s ‘Unit 29155’ of the GRU (Russian intelligence) and a private citizen for “engaging in a conspiracy to hack into, exfiltrate data from, leak information obtained from and destroy computer systems associated with the Ukrainian Government in advance of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.”  It was also alleged that “later targets” included NATO countries that were funding Ukraine, including the United States.  This would become known as “WhisperGate” prior to the 2022 invasion into Ukraine.

There was also the seizure of 32 internet domains that the DOJ claims were used in “Russian government-directed foreign malign influence campaigns colloquially referred to as ‘Doppelgangers.’”

Before we dive into a recent Mockingbird Media report from Politico last week, it is worth noting that in October 2020, Natasha Bertrand of Politico was sent an email from the “51 Spies Who Lie” claiming the Hunter Biden Laptop had the “earmarks of Russian disinformation.”  Bertrand, who is now with CNN as a Pentagon correspondent, received the email as the spies “third option” behind the Washington Post and the Associated Press, neither who chose to run the story.  When asked “why those three,” John Brennan’s Deputy Chief of Staff Nick Shapiro said “I don’t know why I went to Politico after that.”

The email from Shapiro to Bertrand explicitly stated that “We are not making a call on whether the materials are true or not…”  Despite this distinction, Bertrand ran a headline, “Hunter Biden Story IS Russian Disinfo, Dozens of Former Intel Officials Say.”  The keyword is the use of “is” as a definitive statement of fact.  It was the epitome of ‘disinformation.’

Here We Go Again…

Last week, a report from Politico titled, “Hacking Blind Spot: States Struggle to Vet Coders of Election Software,” revealed that there were strange connections between the state of New Hampshire’s new voter registration database and Russia.  Part of the development work for the project to replace the outdated registration system was reportedly being outsourced overseas, much like the accusations from Michigan Sheriff Dar Leaf, who obtained evidence that some tabulation software coding was outsourced to Serbia.

Upon discovering the conflict, the state of New Hampshire opted to hire a forensic firm to go over the code.  It was discovered, as reported by Politico, that it was “misconfigured to connect to servers in Russia” and that the system’s database was “hard-coded” with the Ukrainian national anthem.  Politico called it “an apparent gesture of solidarity with Kyiv.”  Of course, the article stated the obligatory “none of the findings amounted to evidence of wrongdoing.”

The Gateway Pundit previously reported on the Politico’s findings from the ‘six-month long investigation’ into the supply chain of elections.  At the conclusion of that investigation, Politico came to the earth-shattering conclusion that:

“There is little oversight of the supply chain that produces crucial election software, leaving financially strapped state and county offices to do the best they can with scant resources and expertise.”  The Gateway Pundit has been reporting on this ‘revelation’ since 2021.  But this article seems to be making a case for more federalization of our elections.

After the six month long investigation, you would expect Politico’s cybersecurity reporter, John Sakellariadis, to perhaps reach out to the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s office for comment specifically regarding the “misconfigured software” that connects to Russian servers.

He did publish some comments from New Hampshire Secretary David Scanlan in the article, sourcing it to “the first of two interviews in the New Hampshire Statehouse this April,” however, he does not say who conducted those interviews.

In a message sent by the Secretary of State’s office to New Hampshire clerks, provided by Tom Murray of the Government Integrity Project in NH, Secretary Scanlan claims the information reported in Politico is “blatantly false.”  While acknowledging the Ukrainian anthem being found in the code, Scanlan goes on to write:

“The writer’s claim that the software was misconfigured to connect to servers in Russia and overseen by a Russian computer engineer convicted of manslaughter is blatantly false.  This information was attributed to an anonymous source in the story.  Therefore, Politico’s further suggestions that there potentially existed two vulnerabilities, exploitable by hackers, are also false because these vulnerabilities did not exist.”

So who is telling the truth here?  Did Sakellariadis attempt to verify the Russian connection with the chief election official in New Hampshire?  Or was it just inserted by citing an anonymous source without verification, conveniently the same week the DOJ drops several indictments and the White House launches a “whole of government” purge or “Russian propaganda”?

Or did the Secretary of State in New Hampshire mislead his clerks in a message addressing the Politico article?  And if this holds true, what else are elected officials being dishonest about with the media and the public?  Perhaps Secretary Scanlan is taking notice of the lack of accountability for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger when he told Georgians that Pro V&V conducted an audit of five Georgia counties, despite no record of these audits taking place according to Open Records Requests with the county offices.

The Gateway Pundit has reached out to both Sakellariadis and Secretary Scanlan for comment, and more importantly, their evidence.  We will update the article as needed.

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