News and Commentary

DHS Acting Secretary: Iowa Democratic Party Refused Help Testing Failed Caucus App

   DailyWire.com
Chad Wolf
Rich Graessle/PPI/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Last night’s Iowa caucuses debacle was nothing less than a catastrophe for the Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee. “You had one job,” as the popular meme goes, and the Iowa Democratic Party failed did not merely fail that job — it exhibited the kind of reckless and gross incompetence that would be merely embarrassing were it not for the rather Orwellian fact that these are the same people who want to nationalize and control our health care. As of this moment, politicos across the country are still waiting with bated breath for official results from last night’s caucuses.

The Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) has issued a preliminary official response, as The Daily Wire’s Ashe Schow reported this morning:

As precinct caucus results started coming in, the IDP ran them through an accuracy and quality check. It became clear that there were inconsistencies with the reports. The underlying cause of these inconsistencies was not immediately clear, and required investigation, which took time.

As this investigation unfolded, IDP staff activated pre-planned backup measures and entered data manually. This took longer than expected.

As part of our investigation, we determined with certainty that the underlying data collected via the app was sound. While the app was recording data accurately, it was reporting out only partial data. We have determined that this was due to a coding issue in the reporting system. This issue was identified and fixed. The application’s reporting issue did not impact the ability of precinct chairs to report data accurately.

That underlying app, it turns out, was developed, in large part, with the failed 2016 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign’s campaign manager, Robby Mook. Some Democrats and leftists last night were indeed quick to blame Mook for their party’s Hawkeye State woes.

“I’ve always felt like Robby Mook didn’t get enough credit for his part in tanking Hillary’s campaign but now knowing he was behind this failed Iowa app I’m positive he was fully responsible for tanking Hillary’s campaign,” tweeted Mashable’s Matt Binder.

Now, as of this morning, we know that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initially reached out to the IDP to see if the state party wanted any help with vetting the new technology. The IDP, in turn, brazenly refused the feds’ request.

“Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Chad Wolf says the Iowa Democrat[ic] Party declined to have their new caucus app vetted by the department,” Fox News reports. “Appearing on ‘Fox & Friends’ with co-host Steve Doocy, Wolf said that the DHS cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency had offered to test the app from a ‘hacking perspective,’ but the party had declined.”

“They declined and so we are seeing a couple of issues with it,” Wolf added, according to the outlet.

Heather Swift, officials spokesperson for DHS, also corroborated Wolf’s on-air narrative.

“Homeland Security’s [Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency] offered to test the Iowa Caucus app,” she tweeted. “They declined. See [Acting Secretary Wolf] interview,” she added, linking to Wolf’s “Fox & Friends” appearance.

Suffice it to say this is not exactly the start the Democratic Party wanted for its campaign to defeat President Donald Trump this November.

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