Iranian operatives charged in the US with hacking Donald Trump's presidential campaign
The Justice Department has announced criminal charges against Iranian operatives suspected of hacking Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and disseminating stolen information to media organizations
WASHINGTON (AP) — Three Iranian operatives have been charged with hacking Donald Trump’s presidential campaign as part of what the Justice Department says was a sweeping effort to undermine the former president and erode confidence in the U.S. electoral system.
The action, coupled with sanctions and rewards for information leading to the accused hackers' capture, is the latest U.S. government effort to call out what’s seen as Iran’s attempts to interfere in the election by damaging Trump and sowing general chaos. It comes as Iran has also been accused of threatening the lives of Trump and former officials and as US-Iran relations remain especially tense, with Israel fighting Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
The three accused hackers were employed by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which the U.S. government has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. Since 2020, their operation has sought to compromise email accounts of a broad swath of targets, which in addition to the Trump campaign also includes a former ambassador to Israel, a former CIA deputy director, officials at the State and Defense departments, a former U.S. homeland security adviser and journalists, according to the indictment.
In May, prosecutors say, the defendants began trying to penetrate the Trump campaign, successfully breaking into the email accounts of campaign officials and other Trump allies. They then sought to “weaponize” the stolen campaign material by spreading it to media organizations and people associated with President Joe Biden's campaign in what's familiarly known as a “hack-and-leak” operation.
