Franklin Pierce
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A former aide to Sen. Maggie Hassan and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee is headed to prison Wednesday for what prosecutors said was the largest known data theft in Senate history.
The former aide, Jackson Cosko, pleaded guilty in April to crimes related to an unparalleled effort to ransack a Senate office, extorting a Democratic senator, illegally harming Republicans for their political views, and blackmailing a witness.
Prosecutors asked for nearly five years in prison for Cosko, a onetime congressional IT aide to Hassan. Cosko admitted he stole the New Hampshire Democrat’s data out of revenge for being fired, then used it to doxx Republicans during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings.
“The government believes that a significant sentence would help to make clear that difference of political opinion do not entitle people to engage in politically motivated, criminal attacks threatening elected officials with whom he disagrees, and would thereby encourage respect for the law, and deter future criminal conduct,” prosecutors wrote.
New details emerged in their sentencing memo that made the case of Cosko — the Bernie Sanders-supporting son of a millionaire San Francisco developer with ties to California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — even more shocking.
A second Hassan staffer who was friends with Cosko served as his accomplice in exchange for rent money helped him physically break into the office at night and pilfer internal emails even after he was fired, prosecutors’ sentencing memo shows.
The former aide, Jackson Cosko, pleaded guilty in April to crimes related to an unparalleled effort to ransack a Senate office, extorting a Democratic senator, illegally harming Republicans for their political views, and blackmailing a witness.
Prosecutors asked for nearly five years in prison for Cosko, a onetime congressional IT aide to Hassan. Cosko admitted he stole the New Hampshire Democrat’s data out of revenge for being fired, then used it to doxx Republicans during the Brett Kavanaugh hearings.
“The government believes that a significant sentence would help to make clear that difference of political opinion do not entitle people to engage in politically motivated, criminal attacks threatening elected officials with whom he disagrees, and would thereby encourage respect for the law, and deter future criminal conduct,” prosecutors wrote.
New details emerged in their sentencing memo that made the case of Cosko — the Bernie Sanders-supporting son of a millionaire San Francisco developer with ties to California Sen. Dianne Feinstein and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — even more shocking.
A second Hassan staffer who was friends with Cosko served as his accomplice in exchange for rent money helped him physically break into the office at night and pilfer internal emails even after he was fired, prosecutors’ sentencing memo shows.
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The Daily Caller News Foundation first reported that the accomplice, who has since been fired, is Samantha DeForest-Davis. Hassan’s office subsequently confirmed her identity, yet DeForest-Davis has not been charged with any crime.
Even after Cosko was arrested and a computer was quarantined, Capitol Police and Senate employees did not realize that keylogger devices were plugged in to many of the office’s computers, according to prosecutors. The devices continued to beam every keystroke — including passwords to personal and business accounts — over a WiFi signal that could be accessed from the public hallway.
The Senate later realized that it was still being spied on only because Cosko informed government agents of the devices, the memo says. Police still have been unable to detect the devices’s WiFi signals, making it impossible to rule out that they aren’t plugged in elsewhere in Congress.
Prosecutors said Cosko had “self-righteous entitlement” and a “belief that he could violate the sanctity of the United States Senate at will and threaten individual Senators as he pleased.”
He wanted to use stolen data “to punish people who disagreed with his politics” by publishing the personal information of Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, Orrin Hatch, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and Mitch McConnell, the memo says, which noted that Cosko laughed about his actions.
In a sentencing memo, prosecutors described “a months-long series of burglaries and sophisticated data theft offenses directed at the office of United States Senator Maggie Hassan; to a separate set of ‘doxxing’ offenses through which he maliciously released personal information of Senators Lindsay Graham, Orrin Hatch, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and Mitch McConnell; and to obstruction of justice, because he attempted to silence a witness by threatening to release the private health information of a Senator’s children, because he corrupted another person and persuaded her to attempt to ‘wipe down’ the scene of his burglaries, and because he attempted to destroy evidence in his own apartment.”
Prosecutors dismissed arguments by Cosko’s team of attorneys that drugs were behind the defendant’s behavior and that high-end counseling and treatment paid for by his parents could cure it. They said Cosko’s behavior was premeditated and deliberate and that he took pleasure in learning of Republicans’ pain.
Prosecutors said Cosko laughed “aha it ruined [Hatch’s] wifes birthday [sic].”
“The defendant ultimately copied entire network drives, sorted and organized sensitive data, and explored ways to use that data to his benefit,” they continued.
One of his aims was to extort Hassan’s office into giving him a positive job reference and finding out whether it had given him bad references, prosecutors said.
Regardless, Texas Democrat Jackson Lee hired him anyway, despite the criminal record and termination from Hassan’s office. The job was unpaid, a lifestyle apparently made possible by Cosko’s parents’ wealth. But it gave him access to the House computer network, which he used to continue his data theft and extortion.
Then, during the confirmation hearings of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Cosko used his House computer to post the stolen personal information of Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to Wikipedia.
After Kentucky Republican Paul — who was the victim of a physical assault and has been shot at — demanded accountability for the mystery “doxxer,” Cosko targeted Paul and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “with the intent to intimidate them,” posting their personal addresses and phone numbers, knowing that others would use the information to harass them, prosecutors said.
On Oct. 2, Cosko went back to Hassan’s office for more after asking Deforest-Davis for her key. According to prosectors, he was caught in the act by a Hassan employee and fled, then emailed the witness: “If you tell anyone I will leak it all. Emails signal conversations gmails. Senators children’s health information and socials.”
‘Self-Righteous’: Dem Staffer Headed To Prison As Prosecutors Look To Make Example Of Him For Politically-Motivated Crimes
The Daily Caller News Foundation first reported that the accomplice, who has since been fired, is Samantha DeForest-Davis. Hassan’s office subsequently confirmed her identity, yet DeForest-Davis has not been charged with any crime.
Even after Cosko was arrested and a computer was quarantined, Capitol Police and Senate employees did not realize that keylogger devices were plugged in to many of the office’s computers, according to prosecutors. The devices continued to beam every keystroke — including passwords to personal and business accounts — over a WiFi signal that could be accessed from the public hallway.
The Senate later realized that it was still being spied on only because Cosko informed government agents of the devices, the memo says. Police still have been unable to detect the devices’s WiFi signals, making it impossible to rule out that they aren’t plugged in elsewhere in Congress.
Prosecutors said Cosko had “self-righteous entitlement” and a “belief that he could violate the sanctity of the United States Senate at will and threaten individual Senators as he pleased.”
He wanted to use stolen data “to punish people who disagreed with his politics” by publishing the personal information of Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, Orrin Hatch, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and Mitch McConnell, the memo says, which noted that Cosko laughed about his actions.
In a sentencing memo, prosecutors described “a months-long series of burglaries and sophisticated data theft offenses directed at the office of United States Senator Maggie Hassan; to a separate set of ‘doxxing’ offenses through which he maliciously released personal information of Senators Lindsay Graham, Orrin Hatch, Mike Lee, Rand Paul, and Mitch McConnell; and to obstruction of justice, because he attempted to silence a witness by threatening to release the private health information of a Senator’s children, because he corrupted another person and persuaded her to attempt to ‘wipe down’ the scene of his burglaries, and because he attempted to destroy evidence in his own apartment.”
Prosecutors dismissed arguments by Cosko’s team of attorneys that drugs were behind the defendant’s behavior and that high-end counseling and treatment paid for by his parents could cure it. They said Cosko’s behavior was premeditated and deliberate and that he took pleasure in learning of Republicans’ pain.
Prosecutors said Cosko laughed “aha it ruined [Hatch’s] wifes birthday [sic].”
“The defendant ultimately copied entire network drives, sorted and organized sensitive data, and explored ways to use that data to his benefit,” they continued.
One of his aims was to extort Hassan’s office into giving him a positive job reference and finding out whether it had given him bad references, prosecutors said.
Regardless, Texas Democrat Jackson Lee hired him anyway, despite the criminal record and termination from Hassan’s office. The job was unpaid, a lifestyle apparently made possible by Cosko’s parents’ wealth. But it gave him access to the House computer network, which he used to continue his data theft and extortion.
Then, during the confirmation hearings of now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Cosko used his House computer to post the stolen personal information of Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee to Wikipedia.
After Kentucky Republican Paul — who was the victim of a physical assault and has been shot at — demanded accountability for the mystery “doxxer,” Cosko targeted Paul and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell “with the intent to intimidate them,” posting their personal addresses and phone numbers, knowing that others would use the information to harass them, prosecutors said.
On Oct. 2, Cosko went back to Hassan’s office for more after asking Deforest-Davis for her key. According to prosectors, he was caught in the act by a Hassan employee and fled, then emailed the witness: “If you tell anyone I will leak it all. Emails signal conversations gmails. Senators children’s health information and socials.”
‘Self-Righteous’: Dem Staffer Headed To Prison As Prosecutors Look To Make Example Of Him For Politically-Motivated Crimes
