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The Russian cyberattack on the Democratic Party is getting ugly

The cyberattack aimed at the Democratic Party is evolving in some unsavory ways.

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Less than a day after a hacker, or group of hackers who go by the name, Guccifer 2.0 published personal information belonging to high-ranking members of the party, some lawmakers are getting bombarded with ugly messages.

Nancy Pelosi, the House Minority Leader, said in a message to colleagues on Saturday that's she has received "scores of mostly obscene and sick calls, voicemails and text messages."

Nancy Pelosi
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). REUTERS/Gary Cameron

The representative from California was one of nearly 200 party officials whose personal emails and phone numbers were published online as a result of the hacking at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Pelosi called the cyber breach "an electronic Watergate break-in," and a "sad course of events" for the party and the nation.

Given the raucous and unconventional nature of this year's presidential race, lawmakers fear the cyberattack is an attempt to influence the election in November. The fallout forced former Democratic Party chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to announce her resignation just before the party's national convention last month.

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Her departure came after leaked internal messages revealed suggestions that the party favored presidential nominee Hillary Clinton over her former rival, Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary.

Lawmakers fear this is just the beginning.

An emergency meeting among party officials and cybersecurity experts was expected to be held Saturday.

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