As the presidential race ramps up, the campaign of former President Donald Trump claims it was hacked by "foreign sources" over the weekend, and is blaming Iran for the cyberattack.
Politico was first to report the hacking after the outlet said it began receiving internal Trump campaign documents on July 22 from an anonymous email account.
Among the documents was a 271-page "research dossier" into Trump running-mate JD Vance, Politico reported, as well as "internal communications" from within the Trump campaign.
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Scripps News has not independently confirmed that a foreign actor is behind the alleged hack. But Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said the attack "coincides" with a recent report from Microsoft that found Iranian hackers "sent a spear phishing email in June to a high-ranking official" who is currently running for president.
"These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process," Cheung said in a statement to Scripps News. "On Friday, a new report from Microsoft found that Iranian hackers broke into the account of a 'high ranking official' on the U.S. presidential campaign in June 2024, which coincides with the close timing of President Trump’s selection of a Vice Presidential nominee."
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This comes after U.S. officials warned early last month that the intelligence community's "big three" — China, Russia, and Iran — remain a "preeminent" threat in terms of election interference. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines revealed that her agency has also observed actors tied to Iran’s government posing as activists online, seeking to encourage divisiveness.
"Iran is becoming increasingly aggressive in their foreign influence efforts, seeking to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions, as we have seen them do in the past, including in prior election cycles," Haines said in a statement. "They continue to adapt their cyber and influence activities, using social media platforms and issuing threats."
As Americans continue to participate in the democratic process leading up to the November election, ODNI said it expects foreign actors to increase their disinformation efforts the closer we get to Election Day.
