FBI Probes Alleged Iranian Hack of Trump Campaign

Above: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump at a rally at the Brick Breeden Fieldhouse at Montana State University on Aug. 9, 2024 in Bozeman. Image copyright: Michael Ciaglo/Stringer/Getty Images News via Getty Images

The Facts

  • The FBI confirmed Monday that an investigation is underway into claims that sensitive Trump campaign documents were stolen, with hackers reportedly breaching Trump ally Roger Stone's personal email to phish other campaign officials.

  • Citing people familiar with the matter, the Washington Post reported that the FBI launched the probe in June, suspecting Iran was behind attempts to steal data from a Trump associate and three advisers to the Biden-Harris campaign.


The Spin

Republican narrative

These latest developments have made it clear that Iran is the most active and the primary foreign threat to the US presidential election. Tehran has resorted to sophisticated methods and tactics to sow chaos in America and, above all, to harm Donald Trump.

Democratic narrative

Iran may have the motive and means to carry out a hacking attack. However, it's unclear why a state-sponsored effort would leak documents exclusively to Politico. Given that picking Vance was an unpopular move even within the Trump campaign, this could be an internal leak to push for a replacement.

Pro-Iran narrative

These allegations smearing Iran are nothing but disinformation, as Tehran has no involvement in the US presidential election and has never engaged — or planned to take part — in cyber-attacks. The Islamic Republic only has defensive cyber capabilities to foil operations against its infrastructure.


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