On Wednesday, the FBI, alongside other U.S. intelligence agencies, revealed a troubling development concerning Iran’s alleged interference in the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
The intelligence report stated that Iran attempted to share stolen information from the Trump campaign with the Biden-Harris campaign and has continued to supply U.S. media outlets with similar materials.
The FBI, in collaboration with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), released a joint statement confirming that, in late June and early July, Iranian cyber actors sent “unsolicited emails” to individuals connected to the Biden-Harris campaign.
These emails “contained an excerpt” from “non-public,” stolen data taken from the Trump campaign.
The statement, however, clarified that there was no evidence to suggest that anyone from the Biden-Harris team responded to the unsolicited emails. “There is currently no information indicating those recipients replied,” the agencies declared.
The Harris campaign strongly condemned the actions of the Iranian hackers. Campaign spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein noted that the campaign had been cooperating with law enforcement authorities since being informed of the phishing attempts.
According to Finkelstein, the phishing emails were sent to personal accounts of staff members rather than official campaign addresses.
“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,” Finkelstein said.
In addition to denying any involvement with the stolen data, the Harris campaign underscored its opposition to any form of foreign interference in U.S. elections.
“We condemn in the strongest terms any effort by foreign actors to interfere in U.S. elections, including this unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity,” Finkelstein stated.
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for the Trump campaign, issued a statement accusing Iran of working to assist the Harris-Biden ticket.
She demanded that the Harris campaign clarify its role and provide a full account of any interactions with the stolen data.
“Kamala and Biden must come clean on whether they used the hacked material given to them by the Iranians to hurt President Trump. What did they know, and when did they know it?” Leavitt questioned.
Iran’s attempts to meddle in the election took center stage on Capitol Hill, where the issue was taken up by members of the House Intelligence Committee.
“The statement released today by ODNI and FBI makes clear that there is no evidence that anyone affiliated with the Biden campaign responded to the online actor who dangled illegally obtained emails, an online actor that we now know is an Iranian cutout,” ranking member Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said.
“Thankfully, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden understand that foreign interference in our elections is unacceptable no matter who it helps or hurts.”
For its part, Iran denied any involvement in the hacking of the Trump campaign. In a statement issued Wednesday, the Iranian Mission to the United Nations rejected the accusations outright.
“Iran neither has any motive nor intent to interfere in the U.S. election, and it therefore categorically repudiates such accusations,” said Ali Karimi Magham, the spokesman for the mission. He further called on the U.S. to provide “substantiated evidence” to back up the claims.
Microsoft Vice Chair Brad Smith warned that foreign actors, particularly Iran, Russia, and China, are increasingly attempting to influence the outcome of the 2024 election during his testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday.
Smith’s comments referred not only to Iran’s efforts but also to reports of Russia’s continued disinformation campaigns aimed at discrediting Vice President Kamala Harris.
He referenced Microsoft’s recent discovery that Russian-backed operations were responsible for circulating a viral video falsely accusing Harris of a hit-and-run incident.
“We know that there is a presidential race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, but this has also become an election of Iran versus Trump and Russia versus Harris,” Smith remarked.
He further argued that these foreign actors are united by a shared goal of undermining faith in American democracy.
“And it is an election where Russia, Iran and China are united with a common interest in discrediting democracy in the eyes of our own voters and, even more so, in the eyes of the world,” Smith added.
NatSec state: ‘Yeah, Iran stole info from the Trump campaign and emailed offers of it to Harris, but no one in the Harris campaign responded.”
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 like any adults still believe the FBI 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣