Netherlands’ public prosecutor office finds evidence of Trump Twitter hack

The Netherlands’ public prosecutor said on Wednesday that a Dutch hacker accessed President Trump’s Twitter account, according to a report by Vox.

The Dutch prosecutors on Wednesday said that they believed that Victor Gevers, a security researcher, had accessed Trump’s account by guessing the password, according to a translated version of the Dutch news report.

The new details came out as the prosecutors detailed their investigation of Gevers, who they said would not face charges. 

Gevers argued that he was trying to show the vulnerability of the president’s account, and the prosecutors determined he had acted ethically in deciding not to bring charges, according to Vox.

Gevers told police he hacked the account because there were “major interests involved” if Trump’s account could be hacked so close to an election.

Prosecutors added that he tried to contact U.S. authorities about the vulnerability and how to fix it.

Hacking is a crime in the Netherlands, but prosecutors said “responsible disclosure” can “cause the punishability to lapse.” Authorities concluded that Gevers hacked the account, but since he met the criteria for being an “ethical hacker,” his crime is not publishable.

The hacker and American authorities have been informed of the investigation’s results, Dutch authorities said.

The Hill has reached out to the White House and Twitter for comment.

Dutch media outlets reported in October that Gevers was able to get into the account by correctly guessing the password was “maga2020!”

He posted a screenshot of him apparently showing himself having accessed the account, but Motherboard noted at the time that the American flag emoji was missing from the Twitter bio.

Twitter said at the time that it had seen “no evidence to corroborate this claim,” adding that it “proactively implemented account security measures for a designated group of high-profile, election-related Twitter accounts in the United States, including federal branches of government.”

Twitter had no further comment regarding the prosecutor’s announcement.

White House spokesperson Judd Deere said in October that the claim was “absolutely not true but we don’t comment on security procedures around the President’s social media account.”

Deere told The Hill on Thursday that his statement “remains accurate.”

—Updated Thursday at 11:40 a.m.