Maxine Waters Forcefully Denies Doxing US Senators

Los Angeles Representative Maxine Waters this weekend feverishly denied charges that her office “doxed” GOP senators during the Brett Kavanaugh sexual assault hearing Thursday, calling the allegations that quickly circulated online “despicable lies.”

But given that the spunky congresswoman has encouraged opponents to harass Trump Administration officials it’s not quite clear why she would find the allegations that her staffer posted the personal phone numbers and home addresses of GOP bigwigs so surprising.

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC), whose personal info was added to their Wikipedia pages, have both been outspoken supporters of Donald Trump, although the retiring Utah pol has taken issue with the president calling Omarosa “a dog,” as well as tariffs. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT), the third Senator who got “doxed,” is also quite cozy with the President, who interviewed him this July as a possible Supreme Court pick.

On Friday, the right-wing website Gateway Pundit claimed that the Wikipedia pages were altered by somebody with an IP address in Waters office.

Gateway Pundit cites internet detectives including security expert David Reaboi, who delves into the case in some detail on his twitter page. Reaboi tweeted that “I’m hearing these IPs are traceable to a staffer in Maxine Waters’ Office.” He goes on to list the two IP addresses (143.231.249.136 and 143.231.249.130 if you’re following at home) that “seem to track back to IPs identified with a staffer in Maxine Waters’ office.”

But Waters, who was sharply criticized by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer this June after she called for berating Trumpians in public, called the allegations “Lies, lies, and more despicable lies,” saying she was “utterly disgusted by the spread of the completely false, absurd, and dangerous lies and conspiracy theories that are being peddled by ultra-right wing pundits, outlets, and websites who are promoting a fraudulent claim that a member of my staff was responsible for the release of the personal information of Members of the United States Senate on Wikipedia. This unfounded allegation is completely false and an absolute lie.”

She claimed her office was cleared by the United States States Capitol, which along with her “internal IT specialist have determined that the IP address in question,” from which the info was added to the Senators’ Wikipedia pages, “does not belong to my office or anyone on my staff.” And that the staff member supposedly responsible “whose identity, personal information, and safety have been compromised as a result of these fraudulent and false allegations – was in no way responsible for the leak of this information.”

Notice that in the statement Waters did not bother to express any regret that the information was publicized and the privacy of the Senators compromised. It’s certainly refreshing to see somebody in Washington dispense with faux pleasantries.

Meanwhile, in a welcome departure from journalists who these days just regurgitate whatever politicians (excluding Trump) say, the Washington Post actually checked with the Capitol Police to see if they had, in fact, cleared Waters’ office.

But the USCP did not reply to their request for comment.  And an email from CaliforniaGlobe.com was not immediately answered.