Billionaire Trump Donor Asked Data Firm To Organize Russian Hacked Clinton Emails
More connections between Trump World and the Russian hacking operation emerge.
Rebekah Mercer, a top Trump campaign donor, asked Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix to help organize Russian-hacked emails released by Wikileaks during the campaign in August 2016, according to a new report.
The emails, hacked by the Russians and released by Wikileaks, were to Hillary Clinton.
The Wall Street Journal report noted that Mercer exchanged emails with Cambridge Analytic CEO regarding the hacked emails.
“The previously undisclosed details from the exchange between Ms. Mercer and Cambridge Analytica CEO Alexander Nix show how an influential Trump supporter was looking to leverage the hacked Clinton-related messages to boost Mr. Trump’s campaign,” The Journal notes.
In a previous report earlier in the week it was revealed that Nix email Mercer, as well as other company employees, saying he had reached out to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange offering to help release the hacked Clinton emails.
These new revelations show there was a concerted and active effort on the parts of Mercer and Cambridge Analytica to coordinate with the Russia election attack.
In recent days, the Trump administration has attempted to distance itself from Cambridge Analytica (as they have done with all previous individuals who have been caught up in the Russia investigation) saying they were not a significant part of the campaign.
However, campaign finance filings show the Trump campaign spent nearly $6 million with Cambridge Analytica.
The Wall Street Journal also noted that Mercer and Nix exchanged emails with Peter Schweizer, the co-founder of the Government Accountability Institute, a conservative research group that was co-founded by former White House strategist Stephen Bannon and is also funded by the Mercer family.
In the email, Schweizer told the Mercer and Nix that he was working on creating a searchable database of the Clinton-related emails, but it was never released publicly.
“Cambridge Analytica is partly owned by Ms. Mercer and her father, hedge-fund billionaire Robert Mercer. Mr. Mercer made his first donation to Mr. Trump on June 21,” the Journal noted.
The Mercer’s have a history of financially supporting people in the Trump orbit, including Steve Bannon and Breitbart and Kellyanne Conway.
Read the full report by The Wall Street Journal here.
