Donald Trump’s presidential campaign confirms that some of its internal communications have been hacked, and accuses Iranian agents of being behind the breach.
Yesterday, the left-leaning news site Politico reported that it had obtained campaign documents via email, and that the documents also included extensive mappings of potential vice presidential candidates and their weaknesses – including JD Vance, who eventually became Trump’s vice presidential running mate.
– These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election, a campaign spokesman told the BBC.
According to Politico, while the documents have been confirmed to be authentic, no actual evidence has been presented that Iranian hackers or the Iranian government were involved in the breach.
This week, however, Microsoft also released a report “indicating” that Iranian hackers allegedly targeted the campaign of an unnamed U.S. presidential candidate over the summer, including sending the campaign fake emails with malicious links.
“Over the past several months, we have seen the emergence of significant influence activity by Iranian actors”, the report said.
Promising to “end the reign of terror”
According to Steven Cheung, spokesman for Trump’s campaign, the alleged June hacking attempt mentioned in the report “coincides with the close timing of President Trump’s selection of a vice presidential running mate”.
“The Iranians know that president Trump will stop their reign of terror just like he did in his first four years in the White House”, he continues.
Politico officials say they began receiving emails in early July from someone who called himself only “Robert” and used an AOL account during the correspondence.
The Trump campaign’s leaked dossier on JD Vance is described as being 271 pages long, thoroughly covering his history and past statements, and based on publicly available information.
“America’s Hitler”
Presidential campaigns are not unique in vetting vice presidential candidates, and according to the BBC, the goal is to find scandals and potentially embarrassing revelations before they are exploited by their opponents.
In Vance’s case, he has been very negative about Trump in the past, even privately calling him “America’s Hitler”. A number of Vance’s critical statements about Trump were also identified as “potential vulnerabilities” in the document.
US security sources have previously warned of an alleged Iranian plot to assassinate Donald Trump – unrelated to last month’s shooting in Pennsylvania. However, no evidence of this has been presented, although a Pakistani man has been named as part of the plot.
