Romanian hacker Marcel Lehel Lazar, known as Guccifer, described Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s server to NBC News.
“It was like an open orchid on the internet,” he said. “There were hundreds of folders.”
U.S. authorities extradited him to the states after he hacked other political figures such as “Gen. Colin Powell, a member of the Bush family, and former Clinton advisor Sidney Blumenthal.”
The hack into Blumenthal’s email led him straight to Clinton after he saw emails from hdr22@clintonemail.com. He found her server through the data in the header of her emails.
“By running a scan, I found that server…that was completely unsecured,” he said. “It was not what I was looking for. It was boring stuff.”
The U.S. State Department and Clinton’s campaign team have refuted Lazar’s claims.
“There is absolutely no basis to believe the claims made by this criminal from his prison cell,” wrote Brian Fallon, Clinton’s spokesman, to Foreign Policy. “In addition to the fact he offers no proof to support his claims, his descriptions of Secretary Clinton’s server are inaccurate. It is unfathomable that he would have gained access to her emails and not leaked them the way he did to his other victims.”
He added: “We have received no indication from any government agency to support these claims, nor are they reflected in the range of charges that Guccifer already faces and that prompted his extradition in the first place. And it has been reported that security logs from Secretary Clinton’s email server do not show any evidence of foreign hacking.”
State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters the department does not believe Lazar’s claims.
“It’s plausible,” suggested Chris Tarbell, the man who opened the Silk Road case about the online black market for illegal drugs, when asked if Lazar hacked the email. “To go on television and admit to a felony you didn’t commit seems a little silly.”
The FBI interviewed Huma Abedin, Clinton’s longtime advisor and aide, about the email probe. Officials told CNN that Abedin has cooperated with the investigation. The FBI has not yet scheduled an appointment with Clinton.
Last month, Abedin said she felt terrified knowing her emails are out there.
“It’s something I can’t really think about, but I can’t even imagine what’s in those emails. But I’m sure I would probably be mortified. I have no idea. I haven’t read any of them,” she said on the “Call Your Girlfriend” podcast.
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