Iranian hackers sent unsolicited information they stole from Donald Trump’s presidential campaign to people who were affiliated with Joe Biden’s campaign over the summer, federal law enforcement officials told BBC on Wednesday.
A joint statement by The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said that in late June and early July, Iranian malicious cyber actors “sent unsolicited emails to individuals then associated with President Biden’s campaign that contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails.”
The joint statement reveals that There is no indication that Biden’s staff ever replied.
There is no indication that Biden’s staff ever replied, the statement says.
A spokesperson for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign said that “a few individuals were targeted on their personal emails.”
“We have cooperated with the appropriate law enforcement authorities since we were made aware that individuals associated with the then-Biden campaign were among the intended victims of this foreign influence operation,” said Morgan Finkelstein, national security spokesperson for the Harris campaign.
“We’re not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign; a few individuals were targeted on their personal emails with what looked like a spam or phishing attempt. We condemn in the strongest terms any effort by foreign actors to interfere in U.S. elections including this unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity.”
A campaign official told CNN that “the material was not used.”
However, in a statement by The Trump campaign, Harris and Biden “must come clean on whether they used the hacked material,” claiming it’s “further proof the Iranians are actively interfering in the election” to help the Democratic ticket.
The statement said.
BBC reported that during a rally on Wednesday night in New York, Trump claimed without evidence that Biden was involved in the hack despite the law enforcement statement.
“Iran hacked into my campaign. I don’t know what the hell they found. I’d like to find out, couldn’t have been too exciting, but they gave it to the Biden campaign. I can’t believe it – oh yes I can,” he said.
There are visible information that Iranian government-linked hackers have also previously unsuccessfully tried to hack the Biden-Harris campaign, according to US officials and private experts, but the activity disclosed Wednesday appears to be another Iranian attempt to disseminate information stolen from the Trump campaign.
