Independent journalist Ken Klippenstein found himself in hot water Thursday after his account on X was suspended.
The suspension came after Klippenstein shared sensitive materials about Senator JD Vance (R-OH) that were reportedly obtained in an Iranian hack targeting former President Trump’s 2020 campaign.
The controversial leak came from a 271-page vetting report prepared by Trump’s campaign on Vance, now the Republican running mate.
Klippenstein published the full document on his Substack, sparking outrage and concern over the publication of such sensitive materials, particularly because they were stolen by a foreign adversary.
An X spokesperson explained that Klippenstein’s suspension was not due to the political nature of the content but rather the violation of platform policies regarding personal information.
“Ken Klippenstein was temporarily suspended for violating our rules on posting unredacted private personal information, specifically Sen. Vance’s physical addresses and the majority of his Social Security number,” the spokesperson said.
The hack, confirmed by the Trump campaign last month and later verified by the FBI, involved the theft of internal documents.
According to the FBI, Iran was responsible for the breach and had aimed to disrupt both presidential campaigns.
The cyberattack is part of a broader pattern of foreign interference that has plagued American elections, raising questions about election security and the influence of foreign powers in U.S. politics.
Though various media outlets received the hacked documents, they refrained from publishing the stolen materials.
Klippenstein defended his decision to publish the materials on Substack, framing it as an issue of public interest.
In his post, he criticized the mainstream media for what he perceived as its reluctance to challenge the government on issues of foreign interference.
“Since June, the news media has been sitting on it (and other documents), declining to publish in fear of finding itself at odds with the government’s campaign against ‘foreign malign influence,’” Klippenstein wrote.
He added, “I’m just not a believer of the news media as an arm of the government, doing its work combatting foreign influence. Nor should it be a gatekeeper of what the public should know.”
