FBI Investigates After Trump Campaign Iran Hack

The FBI is currently investigating allegations that sensitive documents from Donald Trump’s presidential campaign were stolen in a cyberattack, alongside attempts to breach Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign. This investigation follows the Trump campaign’s claim that Iran was responsible for the hack, although no concrete evidence has been provided to support this accusation.

In a brief statement, the FBI confirmed, “We can confirm the FBI is investigating this matter.”

The Trump campaign’s claim came shortly after Microsoft released a report detailing foreign attempts to interfere in the 2024 U.S. election, highlighting a specific incident in June where an Iranian military intelligence unit sent a spear-phishing email to a senior official in a presidential campaign.

According to two individuals familiar with the situation, the Biden-Harris campaign was also a target in this suspected Iranian cyber intrusion, which is now under FBI investigation. These sources, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the investigation, noted that attempts were made to phish at least three Biden-Harris campaign staffers, though there is no evidence the attempts were successful.

On July 22, Politico reportedly began receiving emails from an anonymous AOL account known only as “Robert,” which included what appeared to be a research dossier on Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Senator JD Vance. The dossier was dated February 23, nearly five months before Trump announced Vance as his running mate.

“These documents were obtained illegally,” stated Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung, adding that they were “intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process.”

The FBI began its investigation into the cyberattack in June, and intelligence officials suspect Iran was behind the attempts. They have also been communicating with tech companies to assess the possibility of both the Trump and Biden-Harris campaigns being targeted through email.

In a statement, Harris’ campaign said, “Our campaign vigilantly monitors and protects against cyber threats, and we are not aware of any security breaches of our systems,” while declining to comment on any state-based intrusion attempts.

When questioned about the Trump campaign’s accusations, Iran’s mission to the United Nations denied involvement. However, Iran has long been suspected of conducting hacking operations against its adversaries, and has previously threatened retaliation against Trump for the 2020 drone strike that killed General Qassem Soleimani.

Microsoft’s report noted that “foreign malign influence concerning the 2024 US election started off slowly but has steadily picked up pace over the last six months due initially to Russian operations, but more recently from Iranian activity.”

The report further stated, “Iranian cyber-enabled influence operations have been a consistent feature of at least the last three U.S. election cycles. Iran’s operations have been notable and distinguishable from Russian campaigns for appearing later in the election season and employing cyberattacks more geared toward election conduct than swaying voters.”

Microsoft concluded that “Recent activity suggests the Iranian regime — along with the Kremlin — may be equally engaged in election 2024.”

By: Poltiics406 staff