This Dem Staffer Stole Data From Republican Senators For Blackmail – Here’s His Punishment

Sen. Maggie Hassan and Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s former aide, Jackson Cosko, is now headed to prison after he pleaded guilty to crimes related to extorting a Democratic senator, an unparalleled effort to ransack a Senate office, blackmailing a witness, and illegally harming Republicans for their political views.

“The government believes that a significant sentence would help to make clear that difference of political opinion does not entitle people to engage in politically motivated criminal attacks threatening elected officials with whom he disagrees, and would thereby restore respect for the law, and deter future criminal conduct,” prosecutors wrote.

Prosecutors also stated that Cosko’s case must be a hindrance, to what they said are “increasing politically-motivated attacks.”

In a statement, prosecutors stated that: “The defendant operated under the belief that he was entitled to inflict emotional distress upon United States Senators and their families, simply because they disagreed with the defendant and had different political views. The government believes that there appears to have been an increase in similar criminal harassment, particularly through social media channels, by people across the political spectrum.”

In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors called “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 rejected arguments made by Cosko’s team of attorneys that the defendant’s conduct was motivated by his drug use and that high-end counseling and treatment paid for by his parents could rectify it. They said that Cosko’s behavior was intentional and deliberate and that he took pleasure in inflicting pain upon Republicans.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-3HoHho-Ag

Sources: NTD / Photo Credit: The Next News Network