US Republican presidential nominee campaign team said Saturday that some of its international communications had been hacked by those “hostile” to the .
“These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the and sow chaos throughout our democratic process,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.
Cheung was responding to revelations by the Politico news outlet that it had begun receiving emails from an anonymous account containing documents from within the candidate’s campaign operation.
Trump’s campaign provided no specific evidence of Iran’s involvement but did imply that Tehran was responsible by mentioning a report by Microsoft researchers that was published this week.
The report said 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 in the White House,” Cheung said.
He warned that “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 is known about the emails?
Politico said it began receiving the anonymous emails on July 22. They came from a person who identified themself as Robert with an AOL email account.
The news outlet said the emails relayed what appeared to be internal communications from a senior Trump campaign official.
The documents included a dossier written about Trump’s running mate, Ohio Senator. JD Vance, which was dated February 23.
Politico cited two people familiar with the dossier who confirmed its authenticity.
One of the two described the report as a preliminary version of Vance’s vetting file.
Why has Trump’s team blamed Iran?
Trump had testy relations with Iran during his four years in office and any second term could be .
He pulled out of a landmark 2015 deal that saw Tehran agree to curb its nuclear ambitions in return for an easing of Western sanctions.
Trump, instead, reimposed sanctions, all but banning trade between the US and Iran.
Under Trump, the United States killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike on Iraq in 2020.
Soleimani was considered second only to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as the most powerful person in Iran.
Aside from the Microsoft report, US intelligence officials have cited facing the US election.
mm/sms (AP, Reuters)
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