STATEMENT FROM INTERIM DNC CHAIR DONNA BRAZILE SEPTEMBER 13 2016 WASHINGTON — Today Interim DNC Chair Donna Brazile released the following statement “The DNC is the victim of a crime—an illegal cyberattack by Russian statesponsored agents who seek to harm the Democratic Party and progressive groups in an effort to influence the presidential election There’s one person who stands to benefit from these criminal acts and that’s Donald Trump Not only has Trump embraced Putin he publicly encouraged further Russian espionage to help his campaign Like so many of the words Trump has uttered this election season his statements encouraging cybercrime are dangerous divisive and unprecedented “We have been anticipating that an additional batch of documents stolen by Russian agents would be released Our legal team is now in the process of reviewing these private documents and attempting to confirm their authenticity as it is common for Russian hackers to forge documents We would urge anyone attempting to access these documents to proceed with extreme caution given the potential malware risks “The DNC takes cybersecurity and privacy very seriously Immediately after learning of the cyberattack we retained a leading cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike to further secure the network and determine the scope of the intrusion In early August we created a Cybersecurity Advisory Board composed of distinguished policy experts to ensure that the DNC’s cyber capabilities are best-in-class We will continue working to strengthen the security of our information and to cooperate with law enforcement authorities so that those responsible for this crime can be held accountable