NEW YORK (news agencies) — Details emerged over the weekend of a suspected Iranian cyber intrusion into the campaign of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, potentially resulting in the theft of internal campaign documents.
The FBI is investigating the matter as well as attempts to infiltrate President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign, which became Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign after Biden dropped out of the race.
Here’s what we know:
Trump’s presidential campaign said Saturday that it had been hacked and that sensitive internal documents were stolen and distributed. It declared that Iranian actors were to blame.
The same day, Politico revealed it had received leaked internal Trump campaign documents by email, from a person only identified as “Robert.” The outlet said the documents included vetting materials on Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance and Sen. Marco Rubio, who also was considered as a potential vice president.
Two other news outlets, The New York Times and The Washington Post, also said they received leaked materials. None of them revealed details about what they had, instead describing the documents in broad terms.
It’s still unclear whether the materials the news outlets received were related to Trump’s alleged campaign hack. Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung indicated they were connected, saying the documents “were obtained illegally” and warning that “any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want.”
The FBI on Monday confirmed that it’s investigating the intrusion of the Trump campaign. Two people familiar with the matter said the FBI also is investigating attempts to gain access to the Biden-Harris campaign.
Trump’s campaign didn’t provide specific evidence showing Iran was behind the hack. But it pointed to a Microsoft report released Friday that detailed an Iranian attempt to infiltrate a presidential campaign in June.
Microsoft’s report said an Iranian military intelligence unit had sent “a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor.” Spear-phishing is a form of cyberattack in which an attacker poses as a known or trusted sender, often to install malware or gather sensitive information.
The tech company wouldn’t disclose which campaign or adviser was targeted, but said it had notified them. Since then, both Trump and a longtime friend and adviser of the former president, Roger Stone, have said they were contacted by Microsoft related to suspected cyber intrusions.
“We were just informed by Microsoft Corporation that one of our many websites was hacked by the Iranian Government – Never a nice thing to do!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform on Saturday.
Grant Smith, an attorney for Stone, said his client “was contacted by Microsoft and the FBI regarding this matter and continues to cooperate with these organizations.” He declined further comment.
U.S. State Department officials declined to speculate on allegations that Iran was behind the hack, but a spokesperson said it would be in keeping with Tehran’s past use of cyberattacks and deception.
“These latest attempts to interfere in U.S. elections are nothing new for the Iranian regime,” spokesperson Vedant Patel said on Monday.
U.S. intelligence officials declined to comment on the incident and referred questions to the FBI, which has said only that it’s investigating.
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