Donald Trump. Photo: Charly Triballeau/AP
Attackers from an Iranian hacking group that compromised the emails of US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign have finally managed to get the stolen materials publicised, despite the initial indifference of the mainstream media, Reuters reports.
In recent weeks, hackers have distributed the contents of Trump’s emails to democratic activists, including by publishing much of the material on the website of the American Muckrakers political committee. Some of the documents were also obtained by independent journalists, one of whom published them on the Substack platform. These documents reveal the Trump campaign’s communications with external advisers, discussions of strategies and key points related to the 2024 elections.
The Iranian hacker group Mint Sandstorm, also known as APT42, hacked into the accounts of Trump campaign staffers in May and June, gaining access to their passwords, according to a US Department of Justice indictment issued in September. According to the Department of Homeland Security, hackers have continued to target campaign workers, raising concerns about the impact on the presidential election.
Iran’s UN mission called the allegations “baseless” and “categorically unacceptable”, while the FBI is currently refraining from commenting, continuing its investigation.
David Wheeler, the founder of American Muckrakers, confirmed that the published documents were authentic and stated that his goal was to “expose how desperate the Trump campaign is to win” and provide the public with reliable information. However, he refused to disclose the source of the materials, citing confidentiality.
Trump’s campaign condemned the publication of the stolen documents, stressing that Iran’s efforts are aimed at undermining the US democratic process, and that journalists who cooperate with hackers are “acting in the interests of America’s enemies”.
Earlier, in 2016, Trump called on Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails and provide them to the media, but this time his team is taking a different stance.
Data leakage operation
The attackers used two email accounts – [email protected] and [email protected] – to contact journalists from Politico, the Washington Post, the New York Times and other media outlets, offering information about Trump’s domestic policies, including research on potential vice presidential candidates. However, the mainstream media did not publish the information, given the origin of the materials and the lack of news value.
American Muckrakers has been publishing the leaks since late September. When asked if he had received the documents from “Robert”, the hackers’ pseudonym, Wheeler said that this was confidential information and declined to comment on a possible warning from the FBI that the leaks were part of foreign influence.
Impact of leaks on the election campaign
The published documents, which also relate to internal communications regarding Trump-affiliated candidates such as Republican Mark Robinson of North Carolina and Anna Paulina Luna of Florida, have not yet had a significant impact on the Trump campaign.
Defending his position, independent journalist Ken Klippenstein said he chose to publish the materials on Substack because he considered the information important to the public, and the media should not be “the gatekeeper of what the public should know”.
Meanwhile, American Muckrakers promises to publish new leaks soon if they are “authentic and relevant”.
