Update: Number One "Suspect" In Hacking Says No Police Have Contacted Him In "Hacking" Case

I call him the number one "suspect" because @patriotusa76, Dan Wolfe, is being named as the hacker in the left-wing media.

See the first comment at Gawker, for example. And most of the subsequent ones.

Where did they get this idea?

Inferentially, from two places, and synthesized together, at a third place:

1. Inferential bit: Anthony Weiner claims he was "#Hacked!," as he calls it, which is a cutesy way on Twitter to say something. Like #Jinx! So he's joking lightheartedly about this despicable and invasive hacking, an attempt to ruin his career and his marriage.

In any event, if you've been #Hacked!, there must be #Hacker! Right? Follows.

2. Inferential bit: The Comely Coed claims in her very-short-on-details NY Daily News piece that she was "harrassed:"

. When I checked one of the posts that I had been tagged in I saw that it was a picture that had supposedly been tweeted to me by Congressman Anthony Weiner.

The account that these tweets were sent from was familiar to me; this person had harassed me many times after the Congressman followed me on Twitter a month or so ago. Since I had dealt with this person and his cohorts before I assumed that the tweet and the picture were their latest attempts at defaming the Congressman and harassing his supporters.

Now, from what I gather, @patriotusa76 was in fact a persistent critic of Rep. Weiner. And because @patriotusa76 was frequently watching Weiner's account (and, apparently, some of those Weiner was himself following), he caught the dic-pic when it was sent.

Clarification: The lady in question objects that she did not imply @patriotusa76 was a hacker. This is true, and I hereby clarify. But while she didn't imply that he was the hacker, other people sure as hell inferred it -- see Gawker's comenters seizing on this connection.

It is true she didn't say anything about Wolfe being a hacker. But the left is looking for a patsy, and "harasser" easily enough slides into "hacker." Hell, they even contain many of the same letters.

3. Statement of "reasonable flag for suspicion:" But mostly, this idea came from Colby Hall, writing for Mediate. Hall is very very cautious to be fair to Rep. Weiner but becomes unfair in suggesting that @patriotusa76 might have been the one-moment-elite-the-next-moment-e-lame hacker:

Why We Should Be Suspicious Of These Allegations:

If this was in fact a hack, as Weiner claims, then it’s not unreasonable that the alleged hacker would do everything that he or she could do to make the individual look guilty, including retweeting the offending image, and then deleting it. Rep. Weiner is not just a progressive provocateur who has very few fans on the right, but he is also a very public figure with 45,000 Twitter followers. So it is perfectly reasonable to wonder why it would appear that his offending tweet was only retweeted once, by a Twitter user who goes by the handle @patriotusa76:

So who is this Twitter user that appeared to luck out and sent the only unique RT of Weiner’s image? The Twitter profile claims that he is an individual named Dan Wolfe, and his bio reads: “Conservative Reagan Republican. No Obamacare, socialism, sharia. Proud of the USA & Proud to be an American with NO apologies. No elitists need apply.”

Its not an exaggeration to say that Wolfe is somewhat obsessed with Weiner; a simple search reveals that, since April, he has mentioned Rep. Weiner 287 times via twitter. Also, skeptics might see that Wolfe and his Twitter clique have been building a narrative about Rep. Weiner’s followers for months, perhaps best evidenced by this tweet to an underage high school girl, who requested a follow from Weiner and got it:

So, a guy who has been building exactly this narrative for months turns out to be the one and only unique retweet of the picture in question? Just as Rep. Weiner’s cryptic hashtag about the Seattle time zone is reason to raise reasonable flag of suspicion, so too is this. Lest anyone think that Wolfe is somehow in cahoots with the Big Government report (and/or vice versa) Breitbart claims that Wolfe has refused to speak to him then adds “if he is involved in a conspiracy, then it is a very expensive one and a remarkably long narrative for this to pay off,” adding “that defies reason.”

Note that Colby feels far more confident in accusing Dan Wolfe of being a hacker than of accusing Weiner of sending a dic-pic to a girl who had a crush on him.

So, take those three together. Weiner alleges a hack. the Comely Coed says she's been "harassed." Colby Hall, looking for some damn reason to cast doubt on the indubitable, strongly implies that Dan Wolfe is a good suspect for the "hacker."

Now throughout this saga, Weiner has refused to say if police had been contacted. In fact, Colby Hall's piece even mentions this. So does Ben Smith's at Politico's. So does the Washington Post piece, if I recall correctly.

Weiner, for reasons unknown, refuses to say if he's contacted the police or FBI.

So people continue reporting they don't know if he's called the police.

Calling the police would be the move of an innocent man who was hacked.

Not calling the police would be the move of a guilty man who was making up a bullshit story about a hack to cover the fact he'd actually hit the public tweet channel on his dic-pic when he meant to send a DM.

And we don't know which it is.

Odd that Weiner won't just say which, eh?

Well, he doesn't have to say.

I spoke to the Accused on Twitter a half hour ago. Dan Wolfe himself. @patriotusa76, the man that Hall suggested was a possible suspect for the "hacker."

I asked a simple question:

Have you been contacted by any law enforcement officers or agents whatsoever?

His answer:

No one. Nada. I keep saying bring it on. I have nothing to hide. Not my IP nothing to hide at all.

No one from law enforcement contacted the number one suspect in the hacking case of the decade? No one? No one at all?

Not a single LEO?

No, Wolfe told me repeatedly. And then he went further. Here are his tweets, my Columbo-like questions omitted, as well as answer-beginnings to those questions:

I keep saying I would love an investigation because I know the outcome. It won't be me.

I hope he comes after me. Look up my IP. Nothing to hide here.

I'd voluntarily hand anything they want over. Check me and my IP. Anything. I did not post that tweet. Weiner did it.

It could be solved in minutes why is no one but me asking for authorities?

At this point I'm seriously wondering if I can call the authorities myself and ask for investigation.

Whatever it takes to get it started. Fine with me. I just want it investigated. Someone please?

So: What do we know?

We know the following: That Representative Anthony Weiner has not contacted law enforcement at all.

If law enforcement doesn't call the all-but-named "hacker" suspect, then law enforcement wasn't brought in at all.

What do we know further? We know that the media-types who have shyly dipped a toe into this lake have long hinted that it was quite telling whether Weiner contacted the police, or he didn't.

If he did contact him: Innocent and hacked.

If he didn't contact them: Guilty and not hacked.

He didn't contact them. Unless Dan Wolfe is lying, but has anyone bothered to ask Suspect A-1 in the "hacking case" if he got even a phone call from a LEO?

Does anyone have any evidence he's lying?

Does Weiner have evidence he's lying? Can he tell us which FBI agents are handling the case? Or which security men from Congressional IT? Or which Capitol Police?

Further, Wolfe isn't hard to find, and will cooperate, gladly, with such an investigation.

Should one ever occur. Which I don't think one will.

So Weiner, Comely Coed, Detective First Class Colby Hall:

Dan Wolfe wants an investigation by law enforcement.

Why doesn't Anthony Weiner oblige him? He maintains he was a victim of a serious cybercrime. And he's a Congressman with a security clearance -- this isn't a bullshit prank. Weiner is top-secret cleared.

Pranksters don't hack Congressmen; spies hack Congressmen. This is a bit more serious than #Hacked!

Why doesn't the Comely Coed oblige him? By her account, she, a girl who had just cracked the age of majority, had been sent, unsolicited and unaware, an obscene picture of an erect penis. This is generally considered illegal-- at least a smaller crime. So she too can call the cops.

Isn't it odd that Weiner and the Comely Coed are not calling the police, while the man the left has all-but-accused as being behind this is the only one who wants a police investigation?

I now turn the matter back over to you, Colby Hall.

Corrected: It's Dan Wolfe, not Gary Wolfe.

It's late-- 2am. #Thats545inSeattleIThink.

Okay, it's not. But you get the joke.

Oh: I asked Rep. Weiner 40 different times, in 40 slightly different ways, if he had contacted law enforcement, posting to his Twitter account.

Representative Weiner did not respond to questions in time for this article's publication.

I always wanted to say that.

Scrubbed: The Comely Coed expresses her desire to slip back into anonymity and while I can't quite do that, I can drop all mentions of her name. So she's back to The Comely Coed.

Corrected: Colby Hall objects to the statement that he "accused" anyone. Accused is a stronger word than warranted. I had intended to distinguish between inferential bits and his piece, which put the inferences together, but he's right, "accusation" overstates things by a ways. I have rewritten to quote him accurately: "reasonable flag for suspicion."

He also objects to the idea this "mostly" came to him, noting the Daily Kos says all sorts of ludicrous things here (they are currently working on the theory that Weiner was hacked, and also, that he wasn't hacked at all and Breitbart just photoshopped a picture). Yes, they do say that, and yes, the leftwing reads DKos more than a reporter.

But to me, he carries the weight, since he's a reporter. Anyway, noted and corrected.

posted by Ace at 01:58 AM

| Access Comments