FBI probing Trump campaign hack that also includes attempt on Biden-Harris campaign
The FBI has confirmed it is investigating the alleged hacking of Donald Trump’s campaign in a probe that reportedly also includes attempts to gain access to the email accounts of officials in the former presidential campaign of Joe Biden and his then-running mate Kamala Harris.
An FBI spokesperson acknowledged the law enforcement agency’s involvement Monday, but declined to elaborate on the scope of the investigation or any suspects. However, a report issued last week by Microsoft said that Iranian hackers sent a “spear phishing email” to an official with an unnamed presidential campaign.
The apparent breach resulted in sensitive Trump campaign documents being emailed last month to POLITICO, which first reported on the cybersecurity lapse Saturday.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the FBI investigation.
A person familiar with the Trump campaign’s response to the incident confirmed Monday that a senior Trump campaign official had their personal email account compromised this June, and that the individual would likely also have had access to the opposition research on Vance. The person was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters.
In a related development, an attorney for longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone said Monday night that he’d been contacted about unauthorized use of his email account.
“We were contacted by Microsoft and we were contacted by the FBI,” Stone lawyer Grant Smith told POLITICO. “Roger Stone is cooperating.”
Smith declined to elaborate but the Microsoft report referred to “a compromised email account of a former senior adviser” being used in the spear phishing attempt, although the tech giant did not name the adviser, the campaign officials or the campaign.
A separate person familiar with the investigation said the FBI began looking into the issue in June, which is also when Microsoft says the spear phishing attempts it discovered took place. That person also said the investigation encompasses similar spear-phishing attempts aimed at Biden-Harris campaign officials, although there is no indication those efforts were successful.
An official with Harris' campaign — which now also includes the president's operation — said in a statement that they "are not aware of any security breaches of our systems."
The Washington Post first reported on the attempts to compromise Biden’s campaign.
The Trump campaign previously cited “foreign sources hostile to the United States” and linked the Microsoft announcement to the spear phishing attempt aimed at a Trump aide. It remains unclear exactly who is responsible for the alleged hacking.
The Trump campaign had not previously acknowledged the compromise of a campaign official’s account. It suggested in a statement this weekend that the 271-page report on Vance that was sent to multiple media outlets was obtained by Iranian hackers.
The previous statement from the Trump campaign did not address whether the campaign was coordinating with law enforcement or had reported the matter to the FBI.
The first person who spoke with POLITICO also said the incident affected a Trump campaign staffer’s personal email account, as opposed to an official one provided via the campaign, and was not protected at the time with two-factor authentication, a standard security measure.
Alex Isenstadt and Adam Cancryn contributed to this report.
