The FBI and Intelligence agencies revealed on Wednesday that Iran was involved in online efforts to influence the U.S. election by hacking the campaign of former President Donald Trump and trying to share with President Joe Biden’s campaign.
According to The Hill, Iran sent Biden’s campaign information from Trump’s campaign via unrequested emails in June and July before Biden dropped out.
The emails contained information that was not publicly available from Trump’s election campaign. The Biden campaign did not respond to the emails, nor did it collaborate with the Iranian hackers.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency released a joint press release in which they wrote: “Iranian malicious hackers sent unsolicited email to individuals associated with the President Biden campaign in late June and early in July. These emails contained text taken from stolen and non-public material of former President Trump’s election campaign.”
There is no evidence that these recipients responded.
The Iranian regime denied any involvement in the hacking operations. This incident is part of a larger pattern in which Tehran has interfered with the US elections. Officials in the intelligence community believe that these operations are meant to destabilize America’s political landscape.
In August, the Trump campaign announced that they had discovered the breach in July when a person using “Robert”, as an alias, approached journalists. The individual claimed to have internal campaign documents. The operation was aimed at Roger Stone and Susie Wiles, a senior Trump campaign official.
This incident seems to be part a larger series of cyber attempts by foreign governments to influence the election season of 2024. In July, it was revealed that Iran had planned to assassinate the former president Trump. This put intelligence agencies on alert.
There is no link between the hacking and the assassination plan. It still raises serious concerns over the security of the upcoming elections and foreign actors trying to take advantage of the divided political climate in the country.
The emails sent to Biden’s campaign did not appear to be harmful. The mere existence of the cyber plot is intended to sow division and doubt in the American electorate. The FBI and CISA described this as “the latest instance of Iran’s multifaceted approach…to sow discord and undermine our electoral process.”
Steven Cheung, spokesperson for the Trump campaign, condemned the breach and said it was a deliberate attempt by the foreign sources to influence the election. He said that the documents were obtained from sources hostile to the United States and intended to disrupt the election in 2024.
The Trump campaign also released a press release on the breach.
Karoline Leevitt, Trump Campaign’s National Press Secretary said: “This is yet another proof that the Iranians actively interfere in the elections to help Kamala and Joe Biden. They know President Trump will reinstate his tough sanctions and take a stand against the Iranians’ reign of terror.” “Kamala Biden and the Trump Campaign must be honest about whether they used the Iranian-hacked material to harm President Trump. What did they learn and when?
