On June 14, the DNC announces publicly that their emails and servers have been hacked by Russian state-backed actors. Upon finding out about the DNC hack, Paul Manafort advises Donald Trump and the campaign to blame Ukraine.
In an April 2018 interview with the special counsel’s office, Rick Gates, who had served as deputy Trump campaign chair and had long been Paul Manafort’s right hand, told investigators that after the campaign learned the DNC had been hacked, Manafort pushed the theory that Ukraine, not Russia, had orchestrated the attack.
Buzzfeed
It’s unclear whether Donald Trump actually believes the hack came from Ukraine or if he just refuses to let go of his campaign’s conspiracies, but he continues to accuse Ukraine for years.
He even refers to the DNC / Ukraine conspiracy theory on the July 2019 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Sources
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/mueller-report-secret-memos-1
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/roger-stone-warned-trump-wikileaks-clinton-dump
Photo: ABC / Ida Mae Astute
