Trump campaign says its internal communications were hacked, blames Iranian government

The campaign of Republican US presidential candidate Donald Trump says some of its internal communications were hacked and blames the Iranian government, citing past hostilities between Trump and Iran without providing direct evidence.

The campaign statement comes after news website Politico said it began receiving emails from an anonymous account with 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 says in a statement.

The Trump campaign referred to a Friday report from Microsoft MSFT.O researchers that said Iran government-tied hackers tried breaking into the account of a “high-ranking official” on the US presidential campaign in June. That report did not provide further details on the official’s identity.

“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 says.

The former president had tense relations with Iran while in office. Under Trump, the United States killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in 2020 and withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal.

CNN reported last month that the US had received intelligence about an Iranian plot against Trump. There was no indication, however, that the shooter who attempted to assassinate the former president at his Pennsylvania rally last month had any ties to Iran.

Times of Israel Staff contributed to this report.