Hackers linked to the Iranian government breached a Trump campaign website, the Republican candidate for the White House said on Sunday.
“We were just informed by Microsoft Corporation that one of our many websites was hacked by the Iranian Government—Never a nice thing to do!” Trump wrote on his Truth Social media platform.
According to the former president, the hackers only managed to download “publicly available information” from the site. Trump added, “Iran and others will stop at nothing, because our Government is Weak and Ineffective, but it won’t be for long.”
Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump’s campaign, said in a statement that the hack was carried out in June, “which coincides with the close timing of President Trump’s selection of a vice presidential nominee.”
The campaign referred to an Aug. 8 Microsoft report that said Iran-tied hackers had attempted to break into the email account of a “high-ranking official” on a U.S. presidential campaign some two months ago.
“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,” the spokesman said.
“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,” Cheung added.
The confirmation of the hack came as Politico reported that it was sent “internal communications from a senior Trump campaign official” by an anonymous AOL account that identified themselves only as “Robert.”
The leaked documents included a preliminary version of a research file the Trump campaign had done on his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance. The hacker claimed they had a “variety of documents from [Trump’s] legal and court documents to internal campaign discussions,” Politico reported.
Asked how they obtained the files, the hacker 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 [sic] you from publishing them.”
In a statement to Britain’s Sky News, Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York rejected the hacking charges. It also claimed that “the Iranian government neither possesses nor harbors any intent or motive to interfere in the United States presidential election.”
The Iranian regime is attempting to sabotage Trump’s 2024 election campaign through coordinated online activities, a U.S. intelligence agency source told The Wall Street Journal late last month.
Iran continues to attack nations across the globe, including Israel, at a rate three times higher than before the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre, the head of Israel’s National Cyber Directorate revealed in late June.
Gaby Portnoy, director general of the directorate, said that Tehran was targeting countries including the United States, Canada, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, India, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Austria and others.
“Iran’s actions constitute a complete violation of international privacy laws and conventions, causing worldwide damage to innocent civilians,” he added, calling for a global defense alliance to deter as well as exact a price from Iran for the damage the mullahs have caused.
