Hackers attack Newsweek after it exposes Trump's Cuba crimes. MEGAUPDATE: It's the Russians!

This election is starting to sound like an espionage novel.

Newsweek published it’s brutal story yesterday disclosing that Trump had authorized representatives of his company travel down to Cuba in search of business opportunities. Problem is, it was illegal, illegal, illegal.

There was lots of scrambling among Trump and his minions as they changed the subject, lied, and did everything to avoid confronting the damning facts in the story. But then, something interesting happened: Just as cable news shows started pumping up the story — which would have driven more voters to read it online — Newsweek.com suddenly went dark. The site crashed for hours. 

Other publications, like National Memo, jumped into the lurch and reposted the Cuba story but still, it seemed odd that a professional magazine would have such a dramatic crash just as such a huge story was published.

Be surprised no more: Hackers wanted to make sure that we couldn’t read it.

The editor-in-chief of Newsweek confirmed Friday that the magazine's website was on the receiving end of a denial-of-service attack Thursday night, following the publication of a story accusing one of Donald Trump's companies of violating the Cuban trade embargo.

Editor-In-Chief Jim Impoco noted that the attack came as the story earned national attention. 

"Last night we were on the receiving end of what our IT chief called a 'massive' DoS (denial of service) attack," Impoco wrote in an email to TPM. "The site was down most of last evening, at a time when Kurt Eichenwald's story detailing how Donald Trump's company broke the law by violating the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba was being covered extensively by prominent cable news programs

I’m sure Donald will say it was just some 400 pound guy lying on his bed or maybe his own kid who did the hack. But I will bet anything that his buddy Putin is doing everything he can to make sure the most damaging stuff never reaches American voters. Or maybe it’s the fascistic brownshirts who call themselves Trump supporters doing everything they can to keep Americans in the dark.

Either way, the options are terrifying. We really are up against a world of evil. I hope this, proof that there is a man running for president whose foreign and/or domestic supporters want to crush an independent press will prove beyond doubt the stakes in this election and how, to save America, this is not a year to stay home or protest vote. Don’t let Putin or racists decide what information you get to know. Because in a Trump presidency, would dailykos be attacked every day?

UPDATE: Kurt Eichenwald, who wrote the Cuba article, revealed the bombshell: Russia did it. 

Update on hacker attack on @Newsweek aftr story posted on Trump breaking Cuba embargo. Lots of IP addresses involved; main ones are Russian.

And:

To make clear: @Newsweek posted story on Trump/Cuba. Hackers attacked, took site down. Lots of IP addresses involved. Main ones from Russia.