Press secretary Josh Earnest noted a "variety of actors, both state and criminal" looking for vulnerabilities in U.S. cybersecurity. | AP Photo White House treads carefully on DNC email hack

The White House took great pains Monday to underscore the extent to which it does not want to comment on the leak of nearly 20,000 emails from the Democratic National Committee's servers, pending an FBI investigation announced earlier in the day, including but not limited to the specter of potential Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election.

Noting the Sony hack by North Korea in late 2014 as an example, press secretary Josh Earnest said the national security agencies investigating the breach would eventually reach a conclusion. While acknowledging a report that cited private-sector agencies conducting their own reports, Earnest said he was "not in a position to speak to the veracity" of such conclusions.


"At this point, it's my responsibility to protect the ability of the FBI and other national security agencies to do their work, to conduct these investigations and to follow the facts where they lead," Earnest said, adding that it would be likely that those agencies would, as in the case of the Sony hack, release that information, not the White House.

Earnest noted a "variety of actors, both state and criminal" looking for vulnerabilities in U.S. cybersecurity, including Russia, adding that the FBI would lead a "careful investigation."

As far as President Barack Obama's reaction, Earnest said that while he was "confident" Obama is aware of the story, he did not have a reaction to convey.

Asked how the timing of the leak would affect Democrats, Earnest demurred again.

"Well, listen, I can’t speak to the motives of the individual who may have released, leaked this material," he continued. "Obviously, at this point I can’t even speak to who was responsible for obtaining the material in the first place."

He also refused to engage on whether the hacked emails showed discord within the Democratic Party.

"Again, I think mostly reaction I’ve seen is from journalists that are covering the convention. I think that’s fine. Ultimately, I think there are a variety of ways to assess the state of the Democratic Party," Earnest said, suggesting that one might consider the reaction of the crowd when first lady Michelle Obama speaks before the Democratic National Convention on Monday night.

Backing up that assertion, Earnest remarked, "I think what the first lady will give voice to are the kinds of values and priorities that have guided this president and this administration. And it’s not just that Democrats are quite enthusiastic about those values and priorities; Democrats all across the country strongly support them. They are unified behind them."

But, Earnest acknowledged, "I recognize there will be some skeptics who will cite some other data points."

The White House's top spokesman also said that he was not aware that Obama had spoken with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the reports.

Asked whether the administration had a sense that the motive of the breach was to interfere with the electoral process, Earnest again deferred to the FBI.

“Well, as the FBI conducts their investigation, they certainly would be looking to ascribe some responsibility for this breach, and in doing so, I’m sure they would, they will consider potential motives," he said.

Pressed on whether the White House has an opinion, Earnest responded, “Again, this particular situation is still being investigated by the FBI, and I just don't want to do anything ... or say anything that would make their investigation more complicated than it already is."

Earnest then responded to a follow-up question about whether the White House has reached out to Moscow regardless of responsibility of the hack to advise that they should not interfere with elections with a similar response.

"I'm not aware of any communication like that, at least from the White House. In part because, you know this is the subject of an ongoing FBI investigation," Earnest said. "But I'm not aware of a message like that being sent."

Addressing a subsequent question as to whether the White House's decision to release information about the entity or entities behind the hack would depend on similar criteria as the Sony breach, especially if it were to interfere with the election, Earnest was similarly guarded.

"Listen, what I can tell you is this investigation will be guided by the facts and not by the political implications or potential political implications," Earnest said. "The FBI and other national security agencies are focused on this and they have experts they can use to examine this situation. And they will use that expertise and they will follow the facts where they lead to reach conclusions. And then they will determine based on broader policy implications, how much of that they can discuss publicly. So this is a process that's going. And again, there's just not much that I can say about it as the president's spokesperson that doesn't risk potentially interfering or somehow making their investigation more complicated than it already is."