United States Capitol Police (USCP) arrested a suspect on Wednesday who allegedly posted private and identifying information (doxing) on Wikipedia about Republican senators last Thursday, shortly after Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee.
USCP released the following statement:
Today, the United States Capitol Police arrested the Suspect who allegedly posted private, identifying information (doxing) about one or more United States Senators to the internet.
Jackson A. COSKO, age 27, of Washington, D.C., has initially been charged with 18 USC § 119 Making Public Restricted Personal Information; 18 USC § 1512(b)(3) (Witness Tampering); 18 USC § 875(d) (Threats in Interstate Communications); 18 USC §1030(a)(3) (Unauthorized Access of a Government Computer); 18 USC § 1028(a)(7) (Identity Theft); DC Code § 22-801(b) (Second Degree Burglary), and DC Code §22-3302 (b) (Unlawful Entry).
The investigation will continue and additional charges may be forthcoming.
Cosko was recently an unpaid intern for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), according to Roll Call, which also reported:
[Cosko] previously worked for Democratic Sens. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire and California’s Barbara Boxer, who has since retired. Cosko was most recently listed in the Senate directory phone book as Hassan’s “legislative correspondent/systems administrator.” His LinkedIn profile says he left Hassan’s office in May 2018.
The Washington Examiner noted the listing of a Jackson Cosko in the 2018 Senate directory phone book as Sen. Maggie Hassan’s (D-NH) legislative correspondent and systems administrator.
Fox News reported that Cosko either worked or interned for Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA). He also worked for retired Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA):
Fox has learned that Senate doxing suspect Jackson Kosko also worked or interned yrs ago w/Dem CA Sen Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee. Had also worked for Dem Sens Boxer/Hassan & interned up until now w/Dem TX Rep Jackson Lee
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) October 4, 2018
Breitbart News reported on the doxing via Wikipedia last week:
A Twitter bot that tracks Wikipedia edits from within Congress has revealed that someone from the U.S. House of Representatives and associated offices has been editing Wikipedia pages to dox Republican senators.
The Twitter bot @Congress-Edits keeps track of all of the edits made to Wikipedia from IP addresses associated with the U.S. Congress. It revealed today that someone in the U.S. House of Representatives was adding the addresses, phone numbers (including in some cases home and cell numbers) and emails of Republican senators to their public Wikipedia pages.
Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Mike Lee (R-UT) had personal and identifying information posted on Wikipedia.
Follow Robert Kraychik on Twitter.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.