A new witness has stepped forward saying that the documents stolen by a Republican operative from a Democratic server were swiped because of lax security.

That’s like acquitting a car thief because the doors were unlocked. If only all the black-hat hackers and crackers who have been swept up by the FBI in the last thirty years had thought of that defense… Oh wait, they did. It didn’t wash in those cases either.

Manuel Miranda, who stands accused of the crime, is getting other Republican staffers to argue that these documents were in plain sight, as if they were left face up on someone’s desk- they weren’t. You had to open that folder, and once you opened that folder you had to open that document. Assuming you’re a Republican staffer in a Democratic shared drive either you knew you were not supposed to be there or you are a complete moron. Miranda is doing such a good job of incriminating himself, it’s hard to make that call. What’s clear is that stealing documents is wrong, he stole hundreds of documents, leaked information contained in the stolen documents to top Republicans (possibly the White House) and the press, and is not sorry for the crimes he’s committed.

There’s no room for mercy here- they should throw the book at him. He has lost his way and he clearly no longer understands the difference between right and wrong. Presenting a witness who agrees with you that accessing the documents illegally was easy- than sending out a press release saying how this new information embarrasses your accusers? That takes a special kind of stupidity.
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