Gawker posts anti-Trump playbook; was it stolen from DNC?

WASHINGTON – The website Gawker on Wednesday published what it said appears to be the Democratic National Committee’s anti-Donald Trump playbook, which was accessed by hackers in a data breach.

The 200-plus-page document is largely a compilation of Trump’s past statements and aims to paint the presumptive GOP nominee as a divisive liar and bad businessman, who is loyal only to himself.

Sophisticated hackers linked to Russian intelligence services broke into the DNC’s computer networks and gained access to confidential emails, chats and opposition research on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, people familiar with the breach said Tuesday.

The DNC would not confirm that it had produced the document posted by Gawker.

Trump, in an emailed statement, accused the DNC of inventing the “hack” to provide a distraction from Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s issues.

“We believe it was the DNC that did the ‘hacking’ as a way to distract from the many issues facing their deeply flawed candidate and failed party leader,” he said. “Too bad the DNC doesn’t hack Crooked Hillary’s 33,000 missing emails.”

He also downplayed the information contained in the document. “This is all information that has been out there for many years. Much of it is false and/or entirely inaccurate,” he said.