Russian interference in the 2016 election may have gone deeper than any of us realized.
According to the New York Times, Russian-backed hackers also targeted local House races in Florida and other states where Democratic candidates had their internal documents stolen and released to the public.
“It was like I was standing out there naked,” said Annette Taddeo, a Democrat who lost her primary race after secret campaign documents were made public. “I just can’t describe it any other way. Our entire internal strategy plan was made public, and suddenly all this material was out there and could be used against me.”
In addition to Florida, hackers also hit House races in Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Ohio, Illinois, New Mexico and North Carolina according to The Times.
You can count me among those who believe Russian-sponsored hackers also probably obtained information about Republican candidates and officials who almost certainly employ equally if not more vulnerable cyber security practices.
That may be an even bigger concern going forward because they will be in power and I can't help but think any information obtained by the Russians could be used as leverage against despot-elect Donald Trump, his closest allies, and even congressional leaders. And if not as leverage, the information could be released at any time by third parties with a goal of simply embarrassing the Unites States.
There's a very real possibility America will be led by a compromised administration whose every decision could be impacted by foreign intelligence services, and that's before even considering Trump's conflicts of interests in countries where he has substantial financial assets.
It seems more likely than not to me that we'll see if the rumors are true at some point in the coming years.