(CNN) - John McCain's campaign said Wednesday it has contacted "appropriate authorities" over a report that Republican VP candidate Sarah Palin's personal e-mail had been hacked.
"This is a shocking invasion of the Governor's privacy and a violation of law," campaign manager Rick Davis said in a statement. "The matter has been turned over to the appropriate authorities and we hope that anyone in possession of these emails will destroy them. We will have no further comment."
The statement came hours after a user on the Web site WikiLeaks said he had gained access to Palin's Yahoo e-mail account and gained access. Screenshots of the e-mail messages and photos of the Alaska governor's family were published on that Web site and later on gossip Web site gawker.com.
FBI Spokesman Eric Gonzalez in Anchorage, Alaska confirms to CNN an investigation is underway.
"We are aware of the allegations and we are coordinating with Secret Service as far as the allegation that someone has hacked into Governor Palin's personal e-mail account," he said. "We are going to be working a joint investigation with Secret Service on this."
Brian Hale, an FBI spokesman in Washington, also confirms the FBI has been contacted about the incident. Two federal law enforcement sources say the FBI and Secret Service would have concurrent jurisdiction normally on a matter such as this, but it remains to be seen if the Secret Service will take the lead on the investigation because Palin is a protectee.
The e-mails shown include one from July between Palin and Alaska Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell and another dated earlier this week from Amy McCorkell, the woman Palin appointed to the Governor's Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse in 2007.
Palin has faced criticism for using a private e-mail account to conduct some state business - prompting critics to allege she was attempting to hide information from the public record.
From CNN Politics
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One scandal after another. Wow, I guess if she and john get elected Americans won't need to watch the soap operas any more, Palin will provide plenty of drama.
Mccain/Palin are pathological liars and ghetto minded.
Welcome back Biff, Biffington!
I guess that the other side will find her at fault for her privacy being violated, watch these comments for proof that they missed the point
Wow, the GOp is all of sudden concerned about invading someone's privacy?
H Y P O C R I T E S!
Hacking is wrong...but if this has the Republicans running scared....what are they so afraid hackers might find???? Abuses of power? Limited ability to do the job of VP? She likes pictures of puppies and kitties? WHAT?
Go ahead... we know you are going to blame the Obama camapaign.
Ms. Palin: Let me give you a little lesson about the internet. email accounts, such as Yahoo can be easily accessed by hackers. You would have been better off conducting your government business on the government site where they have a thing called a "firewall". This firewall helps to prevent hackers from accessing important information.
Now if you weren't so naive about the internet and didn't have anything to hide maybe this wouldn't have happened.
Another reason why I won't vote for you.
I am already having trouble getting over all the lies this women has told. Now I have to accept that the woman I am being asked to consider as one heartbeat away from the presidency is so stupid as to conduct business via Yahoo mail.
OMG: The Actuary tables how there is a 30% chance someone the age of John McCain could die whilst in office!!!!
Good job McSame!
Let's do everything we can to keep the focus OFF of the issues, and on anything BUT the issues. Who cares?
No matter how much lipstick you put on the pig, it's still McSame.
Just say NO to Bush 44.
Go Obama!!!
Just goes to show you how obama is using the milions of dollars from fundraising from average americans and from corporate america-he's hired ruthless hackers (probably ex-cons who hire cheap), to hack into the Governor's email. That's how desperate obama is.
Welcome to the majors in the political game! Palin's an idiot and everyone knows it.
Advice to what is left of the Democrat party. If you don't start purging your party of lunatics, morons and Communists, you will fall into the trash heap of history like the Soviets.
What America has been watching over the last eight years is Russia, circa 1917. If McCain wins in November, these idiots are going to take to the streets destroying everything in their path.
Looks like the hockey mom is going down. She was all sweet and stuff before, now she is just like the rest of them, trying to hide things and playing the Bush political games. Change my butt!
the intruder is an Obama supporter
Karl Rove is at it again.
We shouldn't let someone who uses their computer so incompetently have a governmental office, especially when they're conducting so much business over via personal e-mail.
Wen Ho Lee got thrown in jail for smaller unintentional oversights.
Well of course it's a terrible violation of privacy and law. And it also shows how irresponsible Gov. Palin was to use a commercial email service for her official government business. Before putting potentially sensitive data on a non-government controlled server, she should have taken steps to insure that the server was adequately secure. Apparently, she didn't.
Anyone who may have disclosed private information to the Gov. through her Yahoo account should think long and hard about whether the Gov. fulfilled her responsibility as a public servant to protect that information to the fullest extent possible.
WASP! Women Against Sarah Palin!
Privacy on a Yahoo account? you must be kidding.. besides why use a personal email account to transact business? What are these people trying to hide??
This was an invasion of her privacy, it should not have happened. However, it does raise some serious questions about her. She talks a lot about transperancy and politicians being held accountable.
She hasn't disclosed her tax returns,
she uses personal e-mail for government buisness,
she refuses to answer questions (that aren't planted),
she won't allow her staffers to testify in a BI-artisan investigation into abuse of power issues,
not very transparent. . . lets hold her accountable
Here's some meaningful news...
NOW – The National Organization For Women has endorsed Obama/ Biden. Why isn't this top news on numerous media outlets – including CNN? I heard about this on NPR – National Public Radio. I encourage everyone to tune in to them and PBS for the best, most balanced and complete coverage of the presidential race…and for all news. It's still NEWS with them versus infotainment with the others. And in this time of crisis Americans need the best information and journalism to help people make the best decisions about our future.
WHITE MALE HOCKEY DAD Obama/ Biden '08
oh no.... however wrong and illegal it is for anyone to hack into someone's email but I wonder why Gov. Palin even provided the opportunity for someone to do so. hummmm, WHY?
Maybe it was Todd Palin. He insists on attending all of her private meetings and on recieving confidential Government Email.
I really can't believe anything this campaign says any more!! never a name, just a "report".
If she was using private emails to discuss government business then she should be forced to turn over the emails. It looks like the people she was emailing were government employees.
This woman is so Bush-like it's scary!
There is an old warning about not putting anything into writing that you wouldn't want made public.
Frankly I'm more concerned about the DOD (Dept of Defense) breach when an employee took home a laptop with all of our sensitive data and then lost the laptop. Exposing innocent citizens to identity theft is far more important than Sarah Palin's sleazy e-mail.