The man behind the Stronger Southold website, which appeared late last year, has been identified by The Wall Street Journal as a Florida-based GOP operative who published Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee documents leaked by “Guccifer 2.0,” the hacker U.S officials believe to be linked to Russian military intelligence.
Aaron Nevins, who in December told SoutholdLOCAL he lives in Southold and is interested in providing a platform for discussion of issues of importance to local residents, was identified by the Journal as the operator — using a pseudonym — of a website called Hello FLA!. He published Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee documents he received from “Guccifer 2.0” on the HelloFLA! website prior to the 2016 election.
DCCC documents sent to Nevins analyzed specific Florida districts, showing how many people were dependable Democratic voters, how many were likely Democratic voters but needed a nudge, how many were frequent voters but not committed and how many were core Republican voters—the kind of data strategists use in planning ad buys and other tactics, according to The Wall Street Journal. Nevins confirmed the exchanges with “Guccifer 2.0,” the Journal reported.
“The episode shows how the hacker’s activities extended to exposing Democrats’ get-out-the vote strategies in swing states and informing a Trump ally of hacked data during the national campaign,” the Journal reported.
Nevins said he sent the information to Roger Stone, who was an adviser to then-candidate Donald Trump.
He told the Journal he didn’t use any of the hacked material in his consulting business, which includes running grass-roots-style campaigns for corporations and wealthy landowners seeking to influence local politics, according to The Wall Street Journal.
In December, Nevins acknowledged publishing the Stronger Southold website and Facebook page but adamantly denied he was acting on anyone’s behalf. He claimed he had a residence in Southold, having married a native.
Nevins is a former chief of staff for a Florida state senator and works for a public relations firm called Richardson Partners, which has its offices in Delray Beach, Florida.
According to public records databases, Nevins does not have and never has had a local address. He lives in Plantation, Florida, where he and the woman he calls his wife are both registered to vote.
Nevins told the Journal he reached out to Guccifer 2.0 last August, answering a Twitter invitation to journalists to send questions. He was impressed with the voter turnout models in swing states stolen from the DCCC, he told the Journal.
