The FBI and intelligence agencies on Wednesday revealed that Iran has been engaged in online efforts to interfere with U.S. elections by hacking former President Donald Trump’s campaign and attempting to share it with President Joe Biden’s campaign.
Before Biden dropped out of the race, Iran sent information taken from the Trump campaign to Biden’s campaign in June and July through unsolicited emails, according to The Hill.
The emails contained non-public information from Trump’s campaign. There is no evidence that the Biden campaign responded to the emails or collaborated with the Iranian hackers.
“Iranian malicious cyber actors in late June and early July sent unsolicited emails to individuals then associated with President Biden’s campaign that contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails,” the agency wrote in a joint statement alongside the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
“There is currently no information indicating those recipients replied.”
The Iranian regime has denied involvement in the hacking operation. Yet, this incident reflects a larger pattern of interference efforts on Tehran’s part. Intelligence officials believe the operations are intended to destabilize America’s political landscape.
The Trump campaign in August announced that it had discovered the breach when an individual using the name “Robert” as an alias approached reporters in July. The person claimed to possess internal campaign documents. The operation targeted senior Trump campaign official Susie Wiles and ally Roger Stone, among others.
This incident appears to be part of a broader series of cyber efforts by foreign governments to interfere in the 2024 election season. It was revealed in July that Iran planned to assassinate former President Trump, which placed intelligence agencies on high alert.
No link has been established between the hack and assassination plot. Yet, it still raises significant concerns about the security of the upcoming election and foreign actors attempting to capitalize on the nation’s divided political environment.
The emails sent to Biden’s campaign were not shown to be damaging. However, the mere existence of this cyber plot is aimed more at sowing division and doubt among the American electorate. The FBI and CISA referred to this as “the latest example of Iran’s multi-pronged approach…to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our electoral process.”
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung condemned the breach as a deliberate attempt to interfere in the election. “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,” he said.
The Trump campaign released a statement on the breach, as well.
“This is further proof the Iranians are actively interfering in the election to help Kamala Harris and Joe Biden because they know President Trump will restore his tough sanctions and stand against their reign of terror,” said Karoline Leavitt, Trump Campaign National Press Secretary. “Kamala and Biden must come clean on whether they used the hacked material given to them by the Iranians to hurt President Trump. What did they know and when did they know it?”
