Iran to blame for Donald Trump campaign hack, US intelligence officials say

The US intelligence community has said that Iran is to blame for the hack of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.

The joint statement from the FBI and other federal agencies was the first formal attribution of the hack to a foreign entity, though the Trump campaign had previously said Iran was responsible.

They said Iran perceived this year’s presidential election to be particularly consequential and was determined through the hacking operation and other activities to interfere in American politics and “to stoke discord and undermine confidence in our democratic institutions”.

“We have observed increasingly aggressive Iranian activity during this election cycle, specifically involving influence operations targeting the American public and cyber operations targeting Presidential campaigns,” said a joint statement from the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

The statement said the Iranian hackers have “sought access to individuals with direct access to the Presidential campaigns of both political parties”.

“This includes the recently reported activities to compromise former President Trump’s campaign, which the IC attributes to Iran,” the statement added.

“The IC is confident that the Iranians have through social engineering and other efforts sought access to individuals with direct access to the presidential campaigns of both political parties.

“Such activity, including thefts and disclosures, are intended to influence the US election process.

“It is important to note that this approach is not new. Iran and Russia have employed these tactics not only in the United States during this and prior federal election cycles but also in other countries around the world.”

The statement largely confirms the findings of private companies like Microsoft, which earlier this month issued a report detailing foreign agents’ attempts to interfere in this year’s election. 

Google separately said that an Iranian group linked to the country’s Revolutionary Guard has tried to infiltrate the personal email accounts of roughly a dozen people linked to President Joe Biden and Trump since May.

The FBI has also been investigating attempts to gain access to Democrat Kamala Harris’s campaign.

Earlier this month, Trump’s campaign said the Iranian government was to blame for some of its internal communications being hacked.

The claim came after news website Politico revealed it began receiving emails in July from an anonymous source offering authentic 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 at the time.

The FBI then launched an investigation into attempts to hack both presidential campaigns.

It comes about eight years after the last US election marred by foreign interference.

ABC/AP