Trump Accuses Iran Of Hacking His Campaign

Donald Trump has claimed that some of his campaign’s internal communications were hacked and accused the Iranian government, citing previous tensions between himself and Iran.

The Republican campaign issued a response immediately after Politico revealed that it began getting emails in July from an unnamed source providing actual papers from inside Trump’s operation, including a dossier on running mate JD Vance’s “potential vulnerabilities.”

“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,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.

“The Iranians know that President Trump will stop their reign of terror just like he did in his first four years in the White House,” Cheung said.

Late Saturday night, Trump announced via his Truth Social app that Microsoft (MSFT.O) had just told the campaign that Iran had hacked one of its websites.

He blamed Iran, saying they could only receive “publicly available information.” He didn’t elaborate on the hack.

The Trump campaign cited a Friday revelation from Microsoft researchers that stated Iranian government-linked hackers attempted to break into the account of a “high-ranking official” on a US presidential campaign in June.

The hackers had taken over a former political advisor’s account and used it to attack the official, according to the report.

Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations in New York said in an email that “the Iranian government neither possesses nor harbors any intent or motive to interfere in the United States presidential election.”

“We do not accord any credence to such reports,” it added in response to the Trump campaign’s allegations.

In reaction to Microsoft’s findings, Iran’s UN envoy told Reuters on Friday that its cyber capabilities were “defensive and proportionate to the threats it faces,” and that the country had no plans to conduct cyberattacks.

Trump maintained tight relations with Iran while in office. Under Trump, the United States assassinated Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani in 2020 and pulled out of a multinational Iran nuclear deal.

Trump survived an assassination attempt in July. While there has been no indication that the suspect was linked to Iran, it was claimed last month that the US received intelligence on an Iranian plan against Trump. Iran has refuted the claims.

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Nnamdi Okoli