Topline
The Federal Bureau of Investigation confirmed to multiple outlets Monday it is investigating an alleged hack into former President Donald Trump’s campaign, after the campaign said Iran was responsible for an intrusion—and the agency reportedly believes hackers targeted the personal email account of Trump ally Roger Stone.
The Trump campaign confirmed the hack Saturday after Politico reported receiving documents from … [+]
Key Facts
The FBI confirmed to reporters it was investigating allegations that sensitive documents were stolen from the Trump campaign but gave few other details.
Two unnamed people familiar with the matter told CNN the FBI suspects the hackers breached the personal email account of a senior Trump campaign official in June in an effort to gain access to campaign networks.
The FBI also warned President Joe Biden’s campaign—now run by Vice President Kamala Harris—about potential threats from Iranian hackers, CNN reported (the campaign told the outlet it’s “not aware of any security breaches”).
At least three staffers on the Biden-Harris campaign received phishing emails designed to give access to the recipients’ communications prior to Harris taking over the campaign, the Washington Post reported, though investigators did not find any had been successful.
Multiple outlets also reported Monday that phishing attempts seemingly worked on Roger Stone—who is not affiliated with either campaign but is an adviser to Trump and was previously charged with lying about his involvement in trying to get information from WikiLeaks about Hillary Clinton’s emails—whose account was used to send emails to the Trump campaign that could have allowed access to other emails, according to the Washington Post.
The Trump campaign confirmed Saturday it had been hacked—and said Iran was the culprit—after Politico reported it was receiving emails from an “anonymous account with documents from inside Trump’s operation,” including months-old vetting material on Trump’s soon-to-be running mate JD Vance.
Forbes has reached out to the FBI for confirmation and to Stone for comment.
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Key Background
The Trump campaign did not provide any evidence that Iran was behind the attack, but cited a report from Microsoft released last Friday that said Iranian hackers “sent a spear phishing email in June to a high-ranking official on a presidential campaign.” Iran’s mission to the United Nations denied being involved in the hack to the Associated Press, and the U.S. has not publicly accused Iran of hacking Trump’s campaign. However, Avril Haines, the director of National Intelligence, warned in July that “Iran is becoming increasingly aggressive in their foreign influence efforts, seeking to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions.” Microsoft’s report last week seemed to have similar findings, saying it had seen “the emergence of significant influence activity by Iranian actors” over the past several months.
Tangent
The alleged hack into Trump’s campaign is reminiscent of Russian interference in the 2016 election, in which Trump ran against Democratic nominee Clinton. Officials said Russian hackers obtained thousands of emails from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic National Committee and Clinton’s presidential campaign and released the emails on a website then made social media accounts to promote the site. Intelligence agencies later assessed Russia intended to help Trump. At the time, Trump encouraged hacks, saying, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”
Further Reading
Israel and Hamas. Previously, she has covered a range of topics from Donald Trump’s legal battles to Taylor Swift’s path to becoming a billionaire. She joined Forbes in April 2022 and is based in Colorado. Prior to joining Forbes, Bohannon covered local news and spent time at the Fort Collins Coloradoan and the Arizona Republic. She graduated with a degree in journalism from Creighton University and has an MA in investigative journalism from Arizona State. Follow Bohannon for continued coverage of pop culture, politics and updates on the war in Gaza.
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