Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign said on Saturday it had been hacked and accused Iran of infiltrating its data, just days after Microsoft said the terror-sponsoring state was stepping up online activity to try to influence the U.S. presidential election.
President Trump’s spokesman, Steven Chan, said: Report from Politico The newspaper reported that the media received an anonymous email containing documents from within the Trump campaign.
The presidential campaign said on Friday that it cited a Microsoft report in June that the campaign had been the target of an email phishing attack.
“These documents were illegally obtained from foreign sources hostile to the United States and were intended to interfere in the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout the entire Democratic Party electoral process,” Chang said in a statement.
“On Friday, a new Microsoft report found that Iranian hackers had breached the accounts of ‘senior officials’ in the US presidential election campaign in June 2024, roughly coinciding with the time when President Trump will be selecting his running mate,” he continued.
“The Iranians know that President Trump will end their reign of terror just as he did during his first four years in the White House,” he added.
Chang declined to comment on whether there was further information to establish Iranian involvement.
He noted that the hack “occurred around the same time as the tragedy in Butler, Pennsylvania, and after recent reports of Iran plotting to assassinate President Trump,” after Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt at a rally in the western Pennsylvania town on July 13.
Politico reported that on July 22, it began receiving correspondence from “senior members of the Trump campaign” that included vetting documents regarding Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Trump’s pick for vice president.
The document, whose authenticity was confirmed to Politico by insiders, details Vance’s history, past statements and “potential weaknesses” and is dated February.
The email was sent from an anonymous AOL account belonging to someone who identified himself only as “Robert.”
When asked how he got hold of the classified material, he gave an ominous response.
“I would urge you not to be interested in where I got my information. Any answer to this question will discredit me and legally bar you from publishing the information,” Politico reported.
US intelligence agencies have reportedly found growing evidence that Iran is pursuing plans to retaliate against President Trump over the 2020 assassination of Qassem Soleimani, leader of the elite Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Trump has alleged that Soleimani led attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East that left hundreds dead and wounded.
The Iranian government has denied allegations that it was trying to interfere in the election online.
The Microsoft report also said Iran has set up fake news sites and impersonated activists in an attempt to sway voters, primarily in battleground states, but did not provide details about which “senior officials” were hacked.
