Weeks before the US general election, a hacking operation sponsored by a foreign government distributed emails and other communications stolen from one of the two major Party candidates, Politico reports. This time, though, it’s the Trump campaign who has had their systems breached by Iranian-backed group.
Politico received emails from someone calling themselves Robert that had attached what appeared to be a 271-page dossier on JD Vance compiled by the campaign through February 23rd. It included publicly-available information such as articles and interviews, as well as a section labeled “Potential Vulnerabilities” that included Vance’s past anti-Trump statements. “Robert” claimed to have other communications and records from the Trump campaign.
The hack was likely facilitated when a senior Trump campaign official responded “spear fishing” email, perhaps from Trump’s long lost Nigerian cousin. Unlike 2016, when Russian hackers stole and distributed them through Wikileaks to benefit the Trump campaign, Politico will not publish stolen information.