According to media reports, the Department of Justice is preparing to file criminal charges over alleged Iranian hacking that targeted former President Trump's election campaign.
It was not immediately clear who would be charged, but the charges likely stem from a multi-agency investigation into intrusions linked to Iranian attempts to influence this year's U.S. presidential election, the Associated Press reported.
The expected charges are part of an effort to counter covert foreign influence operations aimed at influencing voters in the 2024 election cycle.
Iran has “engaged in greater efforts to influence this year's election than in previous election cycles, and Iran's activities have become increasingly aggressive as the election approaches,” Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the Justice Department's top national security official, said in a speech in New York on Thursday. “Iran perceives this year's election as having particularly significant implications for Iran's national security interests and has increasingly sought to influence the election's outcome.”
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US Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks at the Department of Justice in Washington, DC, as the department prepares to bring charges against Iran for allegedly trying to influence the 2024 election cycle. (Ting Sheng/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Trump campaign, the Department of Justice and the Iranian mission to the United Nations for comment. The Washington Post first reported that charges were being prepared.
The Justice Department has warned that countries including Russia and China are trying to interfere in the presidential election between President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, including through hacking and using social media to influence public opinion.
In August, the Trump campaign claimed that Iran had stolen classified documents through hacking.
The FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency blamed Iran for the hack and the attempted intrusion into the Biden-Harris campaign.
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Former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a Fox News town hall meeting with Sean Hannity at New Holland Arena in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on September 4, 2024. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
“The IC believes that Iran is seeking access, through social engineering and other means, to individuals with direct access to presidential campaigns of both political parties,” the joint statement said at the time.
“These activities, including theft and disclosure, are intended to influence the U.S. electoral process,” the statement added. “It is important to note that this technique is not new. Iran and Russia have employed these tactics not only in the United States during this and past federal elections, but in other countries around the world.”
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The statement did not say whether Iran favored one particular candidate over another, but Trump has long been considered a target for Iran since he ordered the 2020 strike that killed Lt. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
