Former President Donald Trump’s campaign has confirmed that some of its internal communications were hacked, according to a statement provided to Fox News on Saturday. The campaign’s communication director, Steven Cheung, revealed that the breach was the result of a targeted attack by foreign actors hostile to the United States.
Cheung stated, “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.” The announcement follows a new report from Microsoft, which identified Iranian hackers as the culprits behind the breach. According to the report, the hackers infiltrated the account of a “high-ranking official” within a U.S. presidential campaign in June 2024, around the time Trump was finalizing his selection of a Vice Presidential nominee.
Cheung highlighted the timing of the hack, noting that it coincided with reports of an Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump and the tragic events in Butler, Pennsylvania. “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. Any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want,” Cheung asserted.
Among the leaked documents was a 271-page dossier prepared by the Trump campaign on his eventual running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio. The dossier, which dated back to February, detailed Vance’s past stances on various issues, statements, and criticisms of Trump, organized in a section labeled “POTENTIAL VULNERABILITIES.”
It remains unclear whether the Trump campaign has contacted law enforcement regarding the hacking incident. Additionally, there is no immediate confirmation that Politico, the liberal media outlet that first received the documents, used any of the hacked material in its reporting.
The outlet reported that on July 22, just days after the Republican National Convention and Trump’s announcement of Vance as his running mate, it began receiving emails from an anonymous AOL account belonging to someone identifying themselves as “Robert.” When Politico questioned how “Robert” had obtained the documents, they were told, “I suggest you don’t be curious about where I got them from. Any answer to this question will compromise me and also legally restricts you from publishing them.”
The hacked documents also reportedly included information on Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, who was considered as a potential vice-presidential pick. The breach has drawn parallels to the 2016 election, where the Democratic Party and Hillary Clinton’s campaign were infamously hacked, with the U.S. attributing the attack to Russia. In that instance, some of the stolen documents were published by WikiLeaks.