Trump campaign was ‘HACKED’ – amid claims secret documents about JD Vance’s ‘vulnerabilities’ and legal proceedings were leaked

Former President Donald Trump's campaign team said some of their communications had been hacked.

The campaign blamed “foreign sources hostile to the United States” and cited a Microsoft report on Friday that said Iranian hackers had attempted to hack a senior presidential campaign official.

Politico reported that they had begun receiving emails from an anonymous account containing documents from Trump's internal environment.

Steven Cheung, spokesman for the Trump campaign, told the news agency that they had no further information to support the suspicion that they were a target of attack by Iran.

He said: “These documents were illegally obtained from foreign sources hostile to the United States with the intent of influencing the 2024 election and causing chaos in our democratic process.

“On Friday, a new report from Microsoft found that Iranian hackers broke into the account of a “senior official” in the U.S. presidential election campaign in June 2024, which coincides closely with President Trump's selection of a vice presidential candidate.”

Cheung declined to say whether the campaign had contacted Microsoft or law enforcement about the data theft.

Politico reported that they began receiving emails from an anonymous account that identified itself only as Robert.

The email account was used to forward internal messages from a high-ranking Trump campaign official as well as a research dossier on his vice presidential candidate and Senator JD Vance of Ohio.

The documents, dated February, contained publicly available information about Vance, such as his past criticism of Trump, which were described as “potential vulnerabilities.”

The account told the outlet that they had “various documents,” from Trump's lawyers and court documents to internal campaign conversations.

When asked how they got it, the account replied: “I suggest you don't be curious about where I got it.”

“Any answer to this question would compromise me and would also legally prohibit you from publishing it.”

Microsoft announced on Thursday that it had encountered several Iranian groups spreading polarizing messages and inflammatory posts on controversial, politically divisive topics.

Previously, US intelligence reports had been received that there had been an Iranian assassination attempt on Trump because he ordered the killing of Iranian military officer Qassem Soleimani in 2020.

Researchers working for Microsoft announced Thursday that they had discovered several Iranian groups spreading polarizing messages and inflammatory posts on controversial, politically divisive issues.

According to Microsoft's latest threat intelligence report, cybercriminals are using covert news sites that target voters on opposite ends of the political spectrum to further pit the two sides against each other.

Evidence discovered by the company suggests that these websites used AI-powered services to plagiarize some of their content from U.S. publications.

Microsoft did not name the publications in its report. In particular, the report did not indicate that there had been attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris.

Apart from that, the report also noted that an Iranian group linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had previously attempted to break into the email accounts of campaign staff.

The February documents included publicly available information about Vance, including his past criticisms of Trump, which were described as “potential vulnerabilities.”

The Microsoft report did not indicate that there were attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris

Evidence discovered by the company suggests that these websites used AI-powered services to plagiarize some of their content from U.S. publications.

Microsoft did not name the publications in its report. In particular, the report did not indicate that there had been attacks on Vice President Kamala Harris.

Apart from that, the report also noted that an Iranian group linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had previously attempted to break into the email accounts of campaign staff.

The findings are the latest evidence that foreign governments are conducting secret operations ahead of the U.S. elections in November.

Back in 2020, according to the FBI, two Iranian men posed as members of the right-wing Proud Boys group in an attempt to intimidate voters. They were later charged with their involvement.

In the same election year, Iranian hackers hacked a website on which a city government in the United States published the election results.

The attackers were caught before they could carry out their nefarious activities, US cybersecurity officials later clarified.

In his statement on Saturday, Cheung referred to these reports and said: “The Iranians know that President Trump will put an end to their reign of terror, just as he did in his first four years in the White House.”