Democrat Staffer Headed to Prison for Politically-Motivated Crimes Against Republicans

Here’s a story you probably didn’t hear about.  

Democrat Jackson Cosko stole and leaked personal information about Lindsey Graham and other Republican Senators during the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings, because he disagreed with them politically.  Now, a federal judge has decided that Cosko’s illegal harassment, extortion, and doxxing will land him in prison for the next four years:

The Daily Caller has more:

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.

Cosko posted the stolen personal info from his House computer to Wikipedia. When Kentucky Republican Paul — who was also the victim of a politically motivated physical assault — demanded accountability for this doxing, Cosko posted the addresses and phone numbers of Paul and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

This is particularly egregious in this toxic environment, one which has already resulted in a shooting at the Congressional baseball game. The prosecutors explained what was at stake here:

“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.

They also described Cosko as having a “self-righteous entitlement” and the belief that he could “threaten individual Senators as he pleased.”

It’s also worth noting that Democratic United States Senator Maggie Hassan hired this person even though he had a criminal history.  Then, Texas Democrat Jackson Lee hired this person in spite of his criminal record and in spite of the fact that he’d already fired from Hassan’s office. This gave Cosko access to the House computer network, a perfect playground for his data theft and extortion.

I’m thankful for the serious sentencing and disappointed that Democrats have played so careless with this very serious issue. 

The judge sent the right message: this is never acceptable… even if the targets are Republicans.

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons

Hat Tip: The Daily Caller