The FBI has launched an investigation into allegations by the Trump campaign that it was the target of hackers working for the Iranian government.
“We can confirm that the FBI is investigating the case,” the agency said in a brief statement on Monday, without naming the former president or Iran.
A spokesman for Trump’s campaign told the BBC that the documents were obtained illegally from “foreign sources hostile to the United States.”
Iranian government officials deny any connection to the hacking attack and the US government has not made any official accusations against Iran.
The FBI is also investigating whether Iranian hackers are targeting the campaign of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, BBC news partner CBS News reported, citing people familiar with the investigation.
The Trump campaign’s statement came a day after Microsoft released a report indicating that Iranian hackers targeted the campaign of an unnamed U.S. presidential candidate in June.
According to Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center (MTAC), the campaign sent a spear phishing email – a message designed to look trustworthy in order to trick the target into clicking on a malicious link.
On Saturday, Trump said the hackers were “only able to obtain publicly available information.”
The FBI began investigating in early summer after phishing attempts occurred in both campaigns, CBS News reported.
According to the Washington Post, three Biden-Harris campaign staffers were also targeted by phishing emails in the days leading up to President Joe Biden’s announcement that he was dropping out of the race.
A Harris campaign spokesperson said in a media statement that the campaign “closely monitors and protects against cyber threats and we are not aware of any breaches of our systems.”
The BBC has asked the Harris campaign team for comment.
According to the Washington Post, the FBI’s investigation into the hacking attacks first began in June.
Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff was among several lawmakers who called on the FBI to disclose its knowledge of the hacking attacks.
He said that U.S. intelligence agencies “were far too slow to properly identify the hacking and dumping scheme run by Russia in 2016” and that they “should have acted quickly here.”
Earlier, Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell said he had asked the Department of Homeland Security for a briefing on the “alleged hacking attack on Trump’s presidential campaign.”
“Yes, Trump is the most despicable person to ever seek office. He also instigated foreign hacking in a past election… But that does not mean America will ever tolerate foreign interference,” he posted on X/Twitter on Saturday.
At campaign events in 2016, he called on Russia to hack his opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
US security sources had previously warned of an Iranian assassination attempt on Trump that was unrelated to the shooting attempt in Pennsylvania last month.
And on Tuesday, the US Department of Justice filed charges against a Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran, alleging he planned to assassinate American politicians, possibly including the former president.
