All hell is breaking loose in Washington.
The wheels are flying off for the Biden administration.
And now this five-million-dollar ransom payment just created one big problem for Joe Biden.
Russian hackers shutdown the Colonial Pipeline for days using a ransomware attack.
The hackers locked the company out of its data and demanded millions in payment.
Colonial’s pipeline distributes about half the East Coast’s fuel supply and the disruption causes massive shortages—especially in the Southeast—as 17 governors declared states of emergency over the hack.
Americans saw massive lines at the pump and fights broke out as desperate customers brawled over the dwindling supply as some states saw half their gas stations run out of fuel.
Days after the hack, Joe Biden’s handlers finally dragged him out of the White House basement to address the gas crisis.
“I think you’re going to hear some good news in next 24 hours. And I think we’ll be getting that under control,” Biden read off the script provided to him.
Americans found out that was the next day when Colonial announced the oil began to flow through the pipeline again.
But there was a catch.
Reports indicated that Colonial paid the hackers a five-million-dollar ransom with the administration’s approval.
Bloomberg exclusively reports:
Colonial Pipeline Co. paid nearly $5 million to Eastern European hackers on Friday, contradicting reports earlier this week that the company had no intention of paying an extortion fee to help restore the country’s largest fuel pipeline, according to two people familiar with the transaction.
The company paid the hefty ransom in difficult-to-trace cryptocurrency within hours after the attack, underscoring the immense pressure faced by the Georgia-based operator to get gasoline and jet fuel flowing again to major cities along the Eastern Seaboard, those people said. A third person familiar with the situation said U.S. government officials are aware that Colonial made the payment.
Prior to this report the administration tried to keep its distance from the crisis, pretending that a massive gas shortage affecting over one hundred million Americans was not their problem.
Deputy national security adviser for cyber and emerging technologies Anne Neuberger said at a White House press briefing that “typically that’s a private sector decision.”
“We recognize that victims of cyberattacks often face a very difficult situation and they have to just balance often the cost-benefit when they have no choice with regards to paying a ransom. Colonial is a private company and we’ll defer information regarding their decision on paying a ransom to them,” Neuberger continued.
But now that the truth is out in the open, Americans have many questions.
First is how the Biden administration allowed this hack to happen on their watch.
Second is what Joe Biden knew about the ransom payment and if he approved.
If you want Great American Daily to keep you up to date on any new developments in this ongoing story and the rest of the breaking news in politics, please bookmark our site, consider making us your homepage and forward our content with your friends on social media and email.
