Hackers target personal data of DNC staffer who was researching Trump’s pro-Russian campaign chair

In an interview with Yahoo News, a DNC staffer focused on doing research on the business dealings of Donald Trump's campaign chairman claims her personal email account was hacked.

DNC consultant Alexandra Chalupa, who works for the committee as a director of “ethnic engagement,” states she received a warning when she logged into her private Yahoo email account.

“Important action required,” she said the pop-up stated. “We strongly suspect that your account has been the target of state-sponsored actors.”

According to Chalupa, she "freaked out," before contacting DNC officials about the hack.

Chalupa was in the midst of looking into Paul Manafort's dealings with pro-Russian political leaders in Ukraine after the political consultant took control of the Trump campaign after previous campaign head Cory Lewandowski was ousted.

"Since I started digging into Manafort, these messages have been a daily oc­­­­currence on my Yahoo account despite changing my p­­a­ssword often,” Chalupa wrote in an email to DNC communications director Luis Miranda, with an attached screengrab of the Yahoo security warning attached.

Manafort has a long history of dealing with pro-Putin politicians, including Viktor Yanukovych, as well as Russian  billionaires accused of corruption.

While news of the DNC memo leak has roiled the start of the Philadelphia convention, the disclosure of hacks of personal accounts brings a new dimension to the links between the Trump campaign and Russia.

Chalupas warning set off a panic at the DNC.

“That’s when we knew it was the Russians,” a Democratic Party source told Michael Isikoff at Yahoo, before stating,“we told her to stop her research.”

Monday the FBI announced they had opened up an investigation into the hacks.