Local authorities announced Wednesday they’ve figured out the identity of a suspect linked to a break-in at a Trump campaign office just outside of Washington, D.C.
Per a Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) release, 39-year-old Toby Shane Kessler is the alleged culprit behind Sunday night’s break-in at Trump’s campaign office in Ashburn, Virginia.
“The burglary occurred at approximately 8:11 pm and was captured by surveillance video inside the office,” the release notes.
“The LCSO’s investigation determined that Mr. Kessler forced entry into a back door of the location and spent a brief period of time inside before leaving.
LCSO said that Kessler seemingly “left nothing behind” at the office, and it’s “unclear” if he actually took anything from the office.
The department is currently working with other law enforcement agencies to find Kessler and has requested assistance from the public.
They described him as a white adult male, who was wearing dark clothes, a hat, and a backpack when he broke into the campaign office.
“Mr. Kessler has a history of criminal behavior and appears to have been in the Washington metropolitan area at least since 2018. He has a California driver’s license,” the press release detailed, noting that they have “secured a warrant” for his arrest.
At the beginning of the week, the FBI announced it was launching an investigation after the Trump campaign claimed it was hacked and that internal documents had been leaked.
“We can confirm the FBI is investigating this matter,” the agency commented in a statement.
On Saturday, Trump blamed Iran for the hack, after Microsoft reported that foreign agents had attempted to interfere with the upcoming election.
A group of hackers associated with Iran “sent a spear phishing email in June to a high-ranking official on a presidential campaign from the compromised email account of a former senior advisor,” the Microsoft detailed.
On Monday, the Harris campaign said they were also targeted by a “spear phishing” attack that unsuccessfully attempted to breach its firewall.
“This administration strongly condemns any foreign government or entity who attempts to interfere in our electoral process or seeks to undermine confidence in our democratic institution,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said to journalists.
On Monday, John Kirby, the White House’s national security communications adviser, said that they have for “some time raised concerns that Iranian cyber actors have been seeking to influence elections around the world,” which includes elections in the United States.
“These latest attempts to interfere in U.S. elections is nothing new for the Iranian regime, which from our vantage point has attempted to undermine democracies for many years now,” he noted.
Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said the documents hackers illegally obtained “were intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process.”
Trump downplayed the importance of the material that was stolen during an interview with Univision on Tuesday.
“A lot of people think it was Iran. Probably was,” he remarked. “I think it’s pretty boring information.”
Iran claimed they had no involvement in the hack and were not interested in interfering with U.S. elections.
U.S. intelligence officials believe the statement contradicts reality, as they have reportedly tied the Irananian government and military to cyber operations attacking the Untied States.
Google said they have discovered that hackers associated with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard tried to access personal email accounts of around dozen people connected Biden and Trump since May.
The company noted that the group is still actively going after more people linked to the current and former president, along with the addition of Vice President Kamala Harris.
