Trump Campaign Says It Was Hacked, Intelligence Experts Warn of Future Election Disruption

Trump campaign says its email systems were hacked by Iranwhich caused intelligence experts to warn of possible disruption in future elections, it said.

The statement got here after campaign officials said on Aug. 10 that that they had received questions from news organizations about an internal background check document for vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance that had been sent to media outlets. The 271-page document, marked “privileged and confidential,” got here from an anonymous AOL user named “Robert.” The news outlet first reported that it had been receiving the documents, including the background check document for Vance, from a sender of the identical name since July 22.

On August 9, the Trump campaign cited a report published by Microsoft through which the tech company revealed evidence that Iranian hackers attempted to interrupt into the e-mail account of a “high-ranking official” throughout the June 2024 U.S. presidential campaign, which corresponds to the time when Vance was chosen as Trump’s vice presidential running mate.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told CNN issued an announcement regarding the report and said the Iranians planned to “assassinate President Trump around the same time as the tragedy in Butler, Pennsylvania.” “The Iranians know that President Trump will end their reign of terror, just as he did in his first four years in the White House,” Cheung wrote.

“Any media outlet or news outlet that reprints documents or internal communications is carrying out the will of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want.”

It is unclear whether Iranians are behind the hacking attempt, but the safety breach has analysts and intelligence experts sounding the alarm, warning of other potential attempts by foreign countries to disrupt the U.S. presidential election.

Former Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency Director Chris Kreb posted a cryptic message on X, saying, “Buckle up,” and referring to Russia’s interference within the 2016 presidential election. “Whoever is playing by the 2016 playbook, expect continued efforts to fan the flames of public fires and attack election systems — 95% paper ballots is a strong measure of resilience, coupled with audits. But chaos is the heart of the matter…” Kreb said.

Trump once publicly encouraged Russia to hack into former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private server and release her emails throughout the 2016 election season. He later claimed he was joking.

House Democrats, including Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), have called for briefings and declassification of information related to possible foreign election interference. As the highest Democrat on the Homeland Security Committee’s cybersecurity subcommittee, Swalwell called for a briefing with the Department of Homeland Security on X. He said that while Trump is “the most vile person to ever run for office,” that doesn’t give America an excuse to tolerate election interference.

“I’m searching for @DHSgov briefing on alleged hacking of Trump’s presidential campaign. Yes, Trump is essentially the most despicable person to ever run for office,” Swalwell wrote.

“He also sought foreign hacking in previous elections. But that doesn’t mean America ever tolerates foreign interference.”

After being informed of the breach, a U.S. National Security Council spokesman issued an announcement condemning election disruptions. “As we have said repeatedly, the Biden-Harris Administration strongly condemns any government or foreign entity that seeks to interfere in our electoral process or seeks to undermine confidence in our democratic institutions,” the spokesman said.