The "doxer"

Have you heard of Representative Sheila Jackson Lee's staffer named Jackson Cosko? He faces up to fifty years in jail. Julie Gunlock reports in American Greatness,

Capitol Police on October 3 arrested 27-year old congressional staffer Jackson Cosko for posting on Wikipedia the private addresses of three members of the Senate Judiciary Committee—what’s known as “doxxing” (a word derived from the shorthand for “document”). Cosko is facing serious charges that include illegally posting private information of public figures, witness tampering, threats, identity theft, and unlawful entry.

In the mainstream media, Cosko is being portrayed as a hapless overzealous intern who didn’t even have the smarts to cover up his criminal act. His former boss— Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) has denied she knew anything about Cosko’s activities. In a press conference held this week, Jackson-Lee explained that she fired Cosko and is cooperating with officials investigating the crimes. (Interestingly, cameras recorded Jackson-Lee passing an envelope to Christine Blasey Ford’s lawyer just before her testimony got underway.)

Many Questions, Few Answers So Far
Yet, Jackson-Lee still has some explaining to do. While she claims Cosko was an “unpaid intern” in her office, the Washington Post reports that Cosko was actually a “fellow.” This was confirmed by Cosko’s lawyer, who said his client was a “fellow” in Jackson-Lee’s office and that he was being paid by an “outside institution.”

What “outside institution” paid for Cosko’s fellowship? Did that entity know about his illegal activities? What other fellowships does this “outside organization” pay for? What other House or Senate offices are hosting fellows paid by this organization?

“Intern” and “fellow” are not interchangeable because they aren’t even close to being the same thing. While internships are reserved for inexperienced college students, fellowships are usually serious policy positions and are typically filled by professionals working within other federal agencies or the private sector who are brought to a congressional office for a short stint to help a member of Congress better understand the agency or business for which that member has oversight responsibilities.

...The latest media reports on Cosko are chilling. They detail how after sneaking into Senator Hassan’s office at 10 p.m. (an office he was not authorized to enter since he had been fired months earlier), he logged onto a computer using the login information of a still (for now) employed Hassan staffer. When he was discovered and shooed out of the office by another Hassan staffer who ostensibly was working late that night, he sent that staffer a threatening note: “If you tell anyone I will leak it all. Emails signal conversations gmails. Senators children’s health information and socials,” meaning Social Security numbers.

Read more here.