The FBI has launched an investigation into the alleged hacking of documents belonging to former President Donald Trump’s campaign, the bureau said Monday.
“We can confirm the FBI is investigating this matter,” the FBI said in statement.
On Saturday, the Trump campaign accused Iran of being behind the alleged hack after Politico reported that it had received anonymous emails that included internal documents related to the vetting of Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) – who was tapped as Trump’s running mate last month.
The outlet said it began receiving campaign communications belonging to a “senior Trump campaign official” on July 22 from an anonymous AOL account, and insiders confirmed the documents, which detailed Vance’s record, past statements and “potential vulnerabilities,” were authentic.
The Trump campaign was allegedly hacked earlier this month. APTrump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung asserted that the documents were “obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States” in an effort to “interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process.”
“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, noting that Microsoft revealed last week that Iranian hackers had targeted a presidential campaign and that the alleged hack came “after recent reports of an Iranian plot to assassinate” the 45th president.
Trump, 78, also claimed Saturday that one of his “many websites was hacked by the Iranian Government.”
“They were only able to get publicly available information but, nevertheless, they shouldn’t be doing anything of this nature,” he wrote on Truth Social. “ Iran and others will stop at nothing, because our Government is Weak and Ineffective, but it won’t be for long.”
US intelligence has reportedly found increasing evidence that Iran has been working on retaliation plots against Trump related to the 2020 assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the leader of the elite Quds Force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.
Trump maintained Soleimani was the architect of attacks on US troops in the Middle East that resulted in hundreds of casualties.
Iran has denied the allegations that it is engaging in online efforts to interfere in the election.
