HACKED: Trump Campaign Confirms They Were Hacked, Blames ‘Foreign Sources Hostile To The US’
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The Donald Trump campaign confirmed to Politico on Saturday that their internal communications have been hacked, blaming “foreign sources hostile to the United States.”
According to a report from Politico, the outlet received emails from an anonymous account with internal documents sent inside the former president’s campaign. Politico was able to confirm the documents are authentic, which included a research dossier done on Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH).
Trump’s campaign cited a recent report from Microsoft released on Friday that stated Iranian hackers sent a spear phishing email back in June to a high-ranking official on one of the presidential campaigns. The company did not reveal the identity of the official who was targeted or the campaign.
“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,” said Trump spokesperson Steven Cheung.
Cheung added, “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.”
Per Politico:
On July 22, POLITICO began receiving emails from an anonymous account. Over the course of the past few weeks, the person — who used an AOL email account and identified themselves only as “Robert” — relayed what appeared to be internal communications from a senior Trump campaign official. A research dossier the campaign had apparently done on Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, which was dated Feb. 23, was included in the documents. The documents are authentic, according to two people familiar with them and granted anonymity to describe internal communications. One of the people described the dossier as a preliminary version of Vance’s vetting file.
The research dossier was a 271-page document based on publicly available information about Vance’s past record and statements, with some — such as his past criticisms of Trump — identified in the document as “POTENTIAL VULNERABILITIES.” The person also sent part of a research document about Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who was also a finalist for the vice presidential nomination.
When Politico asked the source how they obtained the documents, the person responded, “I suggest you don’t be curious about where I got them from. Any answer to this question, will compromise me and also legally restricts you from publishing them.”
The latest report indicates a major security breach for Trump’s campaign although the scope of the information taken by the hacker is not clear.
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