Former Sen. Hassan Aide Stole Gigabytes Of ‘High Value’ Data

A former IT aide to New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan mounted an “extraordinarily extensive data-theft scheme” against the office, the culprit’s plea agreement states. The plot included the installation of “keylogging” devices that picked up every keystroke. The former staffer worked with an unnamed accomplice, a then-current Hassan employee, who gave him a key that he used to enter the office at night and who allegedly tried to destroy evidence for him. Jackson Cosko accepted responsibility for the events revealed by federal prosecutors in court Friday. Cosko, fired from Hassan’s office in May 2018 for undisclosed reasons, gathered dozens of gigabytes of data, including entire network drives, and sorted it into folders including one called “high value.” He was then hired by Democratic Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, giving him access to the House computer network.

In October 2018, he used information stolen from Hassan’s office to doxx Republican Utah Sens. Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee as well as Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham. Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul later called for punishing the then-unknown offender. Cosko then doxxed Paul and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. “The defendant published that information maliciously, with the intent to intimidate the Senators,” the plea agreement says.

He was caught in the act logging into a Hassan computer by another Hassan staffer, who he then threatened: “If you tell anyone I will leak it all. Emails, signal conversations, gmails,” he said, according to Fox News. Then, he had his accomplice go into the office and “wipe down” the computers of fingerprints and unplug all the computers in Hassan’s office. But before the accomplice, referred to as “Subject A,” could complete the task, a third witness was approaching, so the accomplice texted Cosko that he was aborting the mission.

Cosko pleaded guilty to five felonies including witness intimidation and obstruction of justice. The maximum sentence was 55 years in prison, but guidelines call for 3-4 years. He agreed not to seek a term shorter than two years as part of the plea agreement. He could also face a fine of up to $200,000 and possible restitution to Hassan’s office. Prosecutors declined to say whether Subject A will be prosecuted, and Hassan’s office did not return a request for comment. Subject A texted: “Hey So I was able to wipe down the keys and mouse but [witness 3] was coming so I could [not] do the other thing” The government confiscated two gmail accounts, keyloggers and two twitter accounts: @TrundleDaGreat and @CongressOfShit.

Cosko, a supporter of Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, was born to a California family with ties to Democratic California Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Republicans suggested the California Democrat leaked a letter soon before Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing that alleged the Supreme Court justice sexually assaulted Christine Blasey Ford. The suspect’s father, Greg Cosko, is the CEO of Hathaway Dinwiddie, a construction company that built a university building named after Feinstein’s husband. He serves on the board of San Francisco State University alongside Willie Brown, the California politician who said he helped make the career of Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris, with an illicit affair. As former chairman of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, Greg Cosko hobnobbed with then-House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Feinstein and others. The elder Cosko’s adult son appears to have made inroads in Washington via an internship with Feinstein.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/04/05/senator-hassan-aid-data-theft/

Case 1:18-cr-00303-TFH Document 31 Filed 04/05/19 Page 1 of 10

https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/5796490/Cosko-Jackson-Statement-of-Offense-April-2019.pdf

REPORT: Gillibrand’s Dad Worked For Sex Cult

Several court documents made public Thursday allegedly show that the father of 2020 presidential candidate and Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand worked on behalf of a sex cult. Documents obtained by Big League Politics seem to confirm past rumors that Gillibrand’s father Doug Rutnik worked for NXIVM, a sex cult in Albany, New York, that allegedly trafficked women. Rutnik reportedly worked for the organization for four months in 2004, at a monthly rate of $25,000.

“Her father Doug Rutnik came to work as a consultant for NXIVM. … He was fired, they sued him, and they had to pay him $100,000,” alleged former NXIVM employee Frank Parlato told Big League Politics. “Her father’s wife, her stepmother, was also a member of NXIVM … Doug got her into the cult, Gillibrand’s father got Gillibrand’s future stepmother into the cult. Doug left the cult because he was sued. Clare Bronfman, after her father was sued, donated money to Gillibrand. Gillibrand accepted it.” Fox News, The Washington Free Beacon, and Slate all previously reported on Gillibrand’s father and his alleged work.

An unnamed source also reportedly told the website that Gillibrand once sat at an NXIVM table at a fundraising event for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. NXIVM has been accused by former members of, among other things, beating and branding sex workers.

Gillibrand has been a major proponent of the #MeToo movement and has sought to frame her campaign as very committed to women’s rights. Gillibrand came under fire from several big figures in her party for leading the charge to oust former Democratic Minnesota Sen. Al Franken after several sexual misconduct allegations were levied against him. However, Gillibrand’s own actions regarding sexual abuse have come under scrutiny since the start of her campaign. A complaint was filed against Gillibrand’s chief of staff last year for treatment of a female employee, who quit weeks after the issue was officially brought up. Gillibrand has staunchly defended her office’s handling of the situation. The senator has consistently lagged behind other Democratic presidential contenders in the polls and is widely considered a long-shot to take home the nomination next year.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/04/05/documents-gillibrand-father-sex-cult-report/

Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos Team up to Fund Alzheimer’s Diagnostics

Bill Gate’s The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Jeff Bezos’ Day One Fund have teamed to donate $15 million to the Diagnostics Accelerator, a project that is part of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF). The Diagnostics Accelerator’s mission is fairly straightforward, although quite difficult—develop an easy and affordable test for Alzheimer’s disease. On his blog, GatesNotes, Bill Gates outlines current advances in diagnosis Alzheimer’s, which is essentially via a spinal tap or a brain scan—invasive and expensive, respectively. And generally, people don’t look for diagnoses until they start showing symptoms. He writes, “It’s hard to overstate how important finding a reliable, affordable, and easy-to-use diagnostic is for stopping Alzheimer’s.” One area of promise is a blood test. That was for quite some time not believed to be possible, but Randy Bateman, a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, identified changes in Alzheimer’s patients’ blood in 2017 that has remained consistent and also been verified by other researchers. Gates writes, “There’s a good chance a blood test will start being used to recruit patients into Alzheimer’s drug trials within the next year or two.”

Another approach that Gates is excited about is linguistic. Rhoda Au heads neuropsychology for the Framingham Heart Study, which has tracked the health of one town’s residents for more than 70 years, including audio records of the patients. Au and others are working on “digital markers,” that might identify changes in speech or writing habits that might act as early Alzheimer’s disease diagnostics. Part of Gates’s blog is related to the ADDF’s Diagnostic Accelerator’s announcement today that it plans to fast-track digital tools for Alzheimer’s and related dementias. The Diagnostics Accelerator program itself was created in July 2018 with funding from co-founder Leonard Lauder, Gates, the Dolby family, and the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation. Additional funds came from The Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration. Gates’ and Bezos’ funds bring the total program funding to almost $50 million. The ADDF is announcing that funding for its Diagnostics Accelerator Digital Biomarker Initiative is now open to scientists and clinicians worldwide working in academic institutions, nonprofits, industry partnerships, and biotechnology companies, as well as new start-ups.

Funding priorities include portables, sensors, software, mobile and tablet apps, smart home systems, and virtual and augmented reality platforms. Gates wrote, “We don’t know yet if voice analysis will work. It’s still early in the research process, and we don’t even know what changes in speech patterns we’re looking for yet. But I’m excited about a potential future where identifying your risk of developing Alzheimer’s is as simple as an app on your phone that you can instruct to listen for warning signs in your speech.”

The recent failure of Alzheimer’s drug aducanumab by Biogen and Tokyo-based Eisai underlines the difficulties of developing drugs to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease.

https://www.pharmalive.com/bill-gates-and-jeff-bezos-team-up-to-fund-alzheimers-diagnostics/