Iran Hacks Trump Campaign, Obtains File On JD Vance: Trump Official

 The Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, has reportedly hacked Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign.

Politico began receiving internal campaign documents from the campaign late last month from an anonymous AOL email account that used the name “Robert.”

The emails contained internal communications from a top Trump campaign official that included research the campaign did on Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and “potential vulnerabilities” that he may have. The research dossier was a preliminary version of the file that the campaign used to vet Vance, something that is standard practice in presidential campaigns.

When the publication asked the anonymous account how they received the documents, they 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.”

Microsoft published a report this week that confirmed that Iran was interfering in U.S. elections, particularly in swing states, through highly targeted activity online designed to sway voters in those states.

Microsoft said that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a designated terrorist organization, “sent a spear phishing email in June to a high-ranking official on a presidential campaign from the compromised email account of a former senior advisor.”

The company did not identify which campaign had been targeted, but a top Trump Campaign official said Saturday that the campaign was hacked and said that Iran was to blame.

 

“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 campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung. “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.”

“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,” he added.

Vance has also shown strength in describing what needs to be done to stop Iran’s reign of terror in the Middle East and around the world, telling Fox News last month: “A lot of people recognize that we need to do something with Iran—but not these weak little bombing runs. If you’re going to punch the Iranians, you punch them hard.”

The hack lines up with other recent reports about how Iran is trying to meddle in the presidential race to stop Trump from winning.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said late last month that Iran was working to damage the Trump Campaign.

U.S. law enforcement has also been closely monitoring an attempt by Iran to assassinate the former president, CNN reported last month shortly after Trump survived being shot in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania.

Federal authorities announced this week that they have arrested Pakistan national Asif Raza Merchant, 46, in New York on July 12 for attempting to carry out a murder for hire scheme that allegedly targeted Trump. Merchant had deep connections to Iran and had recently visited the country for a couple weeks prior to coming to the U.S.