The FBI late Thursday night released an official statement confirming the shocking story True Pundit broke 16 hours earlier detailing how evasive Democratic National Committee officials refused federal agents access to examine its servers to trace email leaks and security breaches.

“The FBI repeatedly stressed to DNC officials the necessity of obtaining direct access to servers and data, only to be rebuffed until well after the initial compromise had been mitigated,” an official statement issued from the FBI’s Washington D.C. headquarters said. “This left the FBI no choice but to rely upon a third party for information. These actions caused significant delays and inhibited the FBI from addressing the intrusion earlier.”

FBI officials said True Pundit’s story, published early Thursday morning, accurately portrayed the challenges of FBI forensic computer experts who were ultimately handcuffed by the DNC.

“The story is dead on,” a FBI official acknowledged.

From the original True Pundit story: