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Former Nebraska Rep. Brad Ashford: My Campaign Emails Were Hacked by ‘Russian Agents’

The Democrat who was defeated by a primary challenger earlier this year said that the hacking occurred in 2016.

Former Democratic Rep. Brad Ashford (D-NE) claimed on his personal Facebook page on Friday that he was also a victim of hacking in 2016. “With indictments today, I can reveal that my Campaign emails were hacked by Russian agents in 2016,” Ashford wrote.

In a subsequent phone call with The Daily Beast, Ashford said that he was informed by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in the summer of 2016 that some of his emails were obtained as part of the hacking effort. At the time, he was not aware of the culprits behind it and did not want to publicize it so as to suggest that the material could have been used by his opponent Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE). "I didn’t want to sound sour grapes about it," Ashford explained. "I just didn’t feel it appropriate to say I think the Russians stole the election. I didn’t think it was appropriate to mention it until today.” On Friday, Mueller indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers who allegedly hacked the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic National Committee, and the Hillary Clinton campaign. The indictments made reference to a congressional candidate making a request for stolen documents from Guccifer 2.0, but it remains unclear who that is. Ashford was narrowly defeated in his comeback bid for Congress earlier this year by Democratic challenger Kara Eastman.

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Gideon ResnickPolitical Reporter

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