WASHINGTON – Former President Donald Trump’s campaign announced that internal documents and communications were hacked and leaked to a news outlet. The campaign attributed this breach to “hostile foreign sources” aiming to interfere in the upcoming presidential election.

The campaign’s statement followed a report by Politico, which received emails from an anonymous source claiming the documents originated from within Trump’s campaign. The campaign emphasized that the documents were obtained illegally by foreign entities intent on disrupting the 2024 election.

In a statement to USA TODAY, campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung condemned the leak, accusing foreign adversaries of seeking to destabilize the U.S. electoral process. Cheung did not elaborate on why the campaign believed hostile foreign operatives were responsible or whether any U.S. agencies had briefed them on the matter.

Cheung referenced a new report from Microsoft, which identified Iran as ramping up digital election interference, including targeting a presidential campaign with a malicious email phishing attack. He implied that Iran could be behind the hack, stating that they aim to undermine Trump due to his tough stance on their activities during his first term.

Microsoft declined to specify which campaign was targeted by Iran, but the report mentioned that an Iranian group connected to Tehran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps attempted to hack a high-ranking official’s email within a presidential campaign.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has also issued warnings about Iran’s efforts to meddle in the U.S. election. However, it did not respond to requests for comment regarding this specific incident.

Spear phishing, a common cyberattack method, was used by hackers to gain access to sensitive information. Microsoft noted that the same Iranian group also attempted to hack into a former presidential candidate’s account but did not specify which campaigns were targeted.

Cheung linked the hacking attempt reported by Microsoft to the timing of Trump’s selection of Senator JD Vance as his Vice Presidential nominee, announced on July 15.

POLITICO, the first to report the campaign’s claim of foreign intrusion, has not independently verified the identity or motives of the hacker. USA TODAY also could not confirm the authenticity of the documents.

POLITICO revealed that it began receiving emails from an anonymous AOL account on July 22, which claimed to have internal communications from the Trump campaign. These documents included a research dossier on JD Vance, which was verified as authentic by two individuals familiar with the campaign’s operations.

Despite the Trump campaign’s plea for hacked documents not to be used, Trump’s previous comments during the 2016 election invited Russia to find and release emails from his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. This context raises concerns about the potential impact of the recent hack.

Christopher Krebs, the former head of cybersecurity under Trump, warned Americans to take the reports of a foreign hack seriously. Krebs indicated that these actions could mirror the tactics used in 2016 to disrupt the election and create chaos within the U.S.

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