WASHINGTON (Reuters) — The campaign of Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump said on Saturday that some of its internal communications had been hacked and blamed the Iranian government, citing past hostilities between Trump and Iran, without providing direct evidence.
The campaign statement came after the news website Politico said it began receiving emails from an anonymous account with documents from inside Trump’s operation.
“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,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.
The Trump campaign referred to a Friday report from Microsoft researchers that said Iran government-tied hackers tried breaking into the account of a “high-ranking official” on the US presidential campaign in June. That report did not provide further details on the official’s identity.
“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 said.
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The former president had tense relations with Iran while in office. Under Trump, the United States killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020 and withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal.
Republican presidential candidate former US president Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at Georgia State University in Atlanta, August 3, 2024. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Trump survived an assassination attempt in July. While there have been no suggestions that the suspect was linked to Iran, CNN reported last month that the US had intelligence about an Iranian plot against Trump. Iran has denied such charges.
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