President Trump referenced a server and security firm Crowdstrike in a phone call with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, presumably referring to a Democratic National Committee (DNC) server that the company examined as part of its investigation into Russia’s hack of the DNC during the run-up to the 2016 presidential election.
“I would like you to find out what happened with this whole situation with Ukraine, they say Crowdstrike,” Trump said in a summary of the call released Wednesday amid allegations that he pressed Zelensky to investigate Democratic rival and former Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter. “I guess you have one of your wealthy people. The server, they say Ukraine has it.”
Conspiracy theorists have long claimed the DNC made up the story of Russian intruders and the president has contended that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference was nothing more than a “witch hunt” meant to disparage his presidency. Crowdstrike was the first to finger Russia’s GRU military intelligence agency as the culprit behind the DNC hack while Mueller laid out evidence of Russia’s campaign to meddle in the election and charged 12 GRU officers in the caper.
“With regards to our investigation of the DNC hack in 2016, we provided all forensic evidence and analysis to the FBI,” Crowdstrike said in a statement, reiterating that “we stand by our findings and conclusions that have been fully supported by the U.S. intelligence community.”
