Iranian hackers sent documents “stolen” from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign to the campaign team of Joe Biden, who has since withdrawn from the race for the White House, US authorities said on Wednesday, September 18.
According to a joint statement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the perpetrators of these cyberattacks “sent unsolicited emails to individuals then associated with President Joe Biden’s campaign.”
The emails contained “excerpts from stolen and non-public documents from former President Donald Trump’s campaign,” the three agencies added, adding that none of the emails received a response from the Democratic candidate’s campaign team.
Iran’s responsibility
In August, the same three agencies had pointed the finger at Iran’s responsibility for the hacking of Donald Trump’s campaign. Iran’s mission to the United Nations had rejected these “baseless allegations.”
“As we have previously announced, the Islamic Republic of Iran has neither the intention nor the motive to interfere in the US presidential election,” it said in a statement sent to AFP.
On Wednesday, the mission reiterated its rejection of the “inadmissible” accusations and said their repetition “would only serve to undermine their credibility.” “The Islamic Republic of Iran does not interfere in the internal turmoil or electoral controversies of the United States,” it added.
“Foreign actors are increasing their influence activities on the November presidential election,” U.S. authorities said Wednesday, naming Russia, Iran and China, which “are trying to exacerbate divisions in American society for their own benefit.” Hackers also tried to leak Donald Trump’s campaign documents to unnamed media outlets, they said.
Donald Trump’s team responded Wednesday by saying it was “proof that the Iranians are actively interfering in the election to help Kamala Harris and Joe Biden because they know that President Trump will restore his harsh sanctions (against Iran) and stand up to their reign of terror.” The teams of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, who replaced Joe Biden at short notice after withdrawing her candidacy in July, have claimed to have been victims of cyberattacks in recent weeks, which tech giants such as Microsoft and Google have confirmed.