Donald Trump campaign says its emails were hacked

Former president Donald Trump’s The presidential campaign said Saturday that it was hacked and suggested that Iranian actors were involved in stealing and distributing sensitive internal documents.

The campaign did not provide specific evidence of Iran’s involvement, but the claim comes a day after Microsoft issued a report detailing attempts by foreign agents to interfere in the US campaign in 2024.

It cited a case in which an Iranian military intelligence unit in June sent “a spearphishing email to a senior presidential campaign official from a compromised email account of a former senior adviser.”

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung blamed “foreign sources hostile to the United States” for the hack. A spokesman for the National Security Council said in a statement that it takes any report of improper foreign interference “extremely seriously” and condemns any government or entity that seeks to undermine confidence in U.S. democratic institutions, but said it deferred to the Justice Department. on this issue. matter.

Iran’s mission to the United Nations, when asked about the Trump campaign’s allegations, denied being involved. “We do not give any credence to such reports,” the mission told The Associated Press. “The Iranian government does not have or harbor any intention or motive to interfere in the United States presidential election.”

However, Iran has long been suspected of carrying out hacking campaigns targeting its enemies in the Middle East and elsewhere. Tehran has also long threatened to retaliate against Trump for the 2020 drone strike he ordered that killed prominent Revolutionary Guard general Qassem Soleimani.

Politico first reported Saturday about the hack. The media outlet reported that it began receiving emails on July 22 from an anonymous account. The source — an AOL email account identified only as “Robert” — passed along what appeared to be a dossier of research the campaign had apparently done on the Republican vice-presidential nominee, a senator from Ohio. JD Vance. The document was dated February 23, nearly five months before Trump chose Vance as his running mate.

“These documents were obtained illegally” and “were intended to interfere in the 2024 elections and sow chaos throughout our democratic process,” Cheung said.

He pointed to the Microsoft report released on Friday and its conclusions that “Iranian hackers broke into the account of a ‘high-ranking official’ of the US presidential campaign in June 2024, which coincides with the approaching timing of the selection process. by President Trump of a vice-presidential candidate.”

“Iranians know that President Trump will end his reign of terror, just as he did in his first four years in the White House,” Cheung said, adding a warning that “any media outlet or media outlet that reprints documents or internal communications is making the offer.” of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want.”

In response to the Microsoft report, the Iranian United Nations mission denied having plans to interfere or launch cyberattacks in the US presidential election.

Cheung did not immediately respond to questions about the campaign’s interactions with Microsoft on the matter. Microsoft said Saturday it had no comment beyond its blog post and Friday report.

In that report, Microsoft stated that “foreign malign influence in relation to the 2024 U.S. elections began slowly but has steadily accelerated over the past six months due initially to Russian operations but more recently to Iranian activity.”

The analysis continued: “Iranian cyber influence operations have been a consistent feature over at least the last three U.S. election cycles. Iran’s operations have been notable and distinguishable from Russian campaigns by appearing later in the election season and by employing cyberattacks more oriented toward election conduct than influencing voters.”

“Recent activity suggests that the Iranian regime – along with the Kremlin – may be equally involved in the 2024 elections,” Microsoft concluded.

Specifically, the report detailed that in June 2024, an Iranian military intelligence unit, Mint Sandstorm, sent a phishing email to an American presidential campaign through the compromised account of a former adviser.

“The phishing email contained a fake forward with a hyperlink that directs traffic through a domain controlled by the actor before redirecting to the listed domain,” the report states.

vice president Kamala Harris’ The campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the alleged hacking or the Democratic candidate’s cybersecurity protocols.

___

Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Mae Anderson in New York and Fatima Hussein in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, contributed to this report.