Donald Trump campaign claims his emails were hacked

Former President Donald Trump's presidential campaign said Saturday that its systems had been hacked and suggested that Iranian actors were involved in the theft and distribution of sensitive internal documents.

The campaign did not provide any specific evidence of Iranian involvement, but the claim comes a day after Microsoft released a report detailing attempts by foreign agents to interfere in the U.S. 2024 campaign.

He cites the case of an Iranian military intelligence unit that sent a phishing email to a senior presidential campaign official in June from a compromised email account of a former senior adviser.

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung blamed the hack on foreign sources hostile to the United States. In a statement, a National Security Council spokesman said it takes any reports of inappropriate foreign interference very seriously and condemns any government or entity that attempts to undermine confidence in American democratic institutions, but said it defers to the Justice Department on the matter.

Politico first reported the hack on Saturday. The outlet said it began receiving emails on July 22 from an anonymous account. The source, an AOL email account identified only as Robert, forwarded what appeared to be a research dossier the campaign had apparently compiled on Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio. The document was dated Feb. 23, nearly five months before Trump chose Vance as his running mate.

These documents were obtained illegally and are aimed at interfering with the 2024 elections and wreaking havoc on our democratic process, Cheung said.

He pointed to Microsoft's report released Friday and its findings that Iranian hackers compromised the account of a senior U.S. presidential campaign official in June 2024, which coincides with the timing of President Trump's selection of a vice presidential candidate.

The Iranians know that President Trump will end their reign of terror, as he did during his first four years in the White House, Cheung said, adding that a media outlet or news organization that republishes internal documents or communications is doing exactly what they want.

In response to the Microsoft report, the Iranian mission to the United Nations denied any intention to interfere or launch cyberattacks during the US presidential election.

Cheung did not immediately respond to questions about the campaign’s interactions with Microsoft on the matter. Microsoft said Saturday it had no comment beyond its blog post and Friday’s report.

In the report, Microsoft said foreign malign influence regarding the 2024 US election started slowly but has gradually accelerated over the past six months, initially due to Russian operations but more recently Iranian activity.

The analysis continues: Iranian influence operations through cyberattacks have been a consistent feature of at least the last three U.S. election cycles. The Iranian operations are notable and distinct from the Russian campaigns in that they appear later in the election season and use cyberattacks that are more focused on running the election than on influencing voters.

Recent activities suggest that the Iranian regime and the Kremlin may also be involved in the 2024 elections, Microsoft concluded.

What you need to know about the 2024 elections

Specifically, the report details that in June 2024, an Iranian military intelligence unit, Mint Sandstorm, sent a phishing email to a U.S. presidential campaign through the compromised account of a former adviser.

The phishing email contained a fake redirect with a hyperlink that directs traffic through a domain controlled by an actor before redirecting to the listed domain, the report said.

Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the reported hack or the Democratic candidates' cybersecurity protocols.

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Associated Press writers Mae Anderson in New York and Fatima Hussein in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, contributed to this report.

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