Trump campaign says it was hacked: Everything we know so far

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign says its emails were breached by hackers working for Iran — a development that suggests efforts by foreign powers to disrupt yet another U.S. presidential election may be underway.

?? What happened?

Politico reported Saturday that since late last month it had been receiving “emails from an anonymous account with documents from inside Trump’s operation.” The documents included a “research dossier” the campaign had apparently prepared as it was vetting Ohio Sen. JD Vance to be Trump’s running mate. Other news organizations, including the New York Times and Washington Post, said they had received similar documents.

The FBI said Monday afternoon it was investigating the matter.

?? What did the Trump campaign say?

In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said that its email systems had been hacked.

"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,” Cheung said in the statement.

?? When did the alleged hacking occur?

Cheung pointed to a new report issued by Microsoft on Friday that said Iranian hackers “sent a spear phishing email in June to a high-ranking official on a presidential campaign.” Microsoft did not identify the campaign targeted by the email, but Cheung said that it “coincides with the close timing” of Trump’s selection of a vice presidential nominee.

“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 added. “Any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want."

?? What did Trump say?

In a post on Truth Social, his social media platform, the former president said the Iranian government was behind the hack.

“We were just informed by Microsoft Corporation that one of our many websites was hacked by the Iranian Government,” Trump wrote. “Never a nice thing to do! They were only able to get publicly available information but, nevertheless, they shouldn’t be doing anything of this nature.”

???? What did the Biden administration say?

In a statement, a spokesperson for the U.S. National Security Council said that it takes any report of improper foreign interference “extremely seriously” but did not confirm Iran was responsible for the apparent breach.

"This administration strongly condemns any foreign government or entity attempts to interfere in our electoral process or seeks to undermine confidence in our democratic institutions," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said at a briefing on Monday afternoon. "And so we take this type of reports of such activity extremely seriously."

She referred questions about Iran's involvement to the FBI.

“We can confirm the FBI is investigating the matter,” the agency said in a short statement on Monday without specifically naming Iran.

???? What did Iran say?

It denied any involvement in the hack.

“We do not accord any credence to such reports,” Iran’s mission to the United Nations told the Associated Press. “The Iranian government neither possesses nor harbors any intent or motive to interfere in the United States presidential election.”

?? Didn’t something similar happen in 2016?

Yes. That summer, Russian hackers broke into the emails of top Democratic officials, including Hillary Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, which were later published by WikiLeaks. Trump himself had encouraged Russia to find Clinton’s emails and later applauded WikiLeaks for publishing them.

“Oh, we love WikiLeaks,” Trump said at a rally in October 2016, weeks before the election.