Trump campaign hacked with documents sent to news outlets: What we know

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign fell victim to foreign hackers, the campaign acknowledged after internal vetting documents were emailed to news outlets.

On Friday, Microsoft revealed that an Iranian group sent a spear phishing email to a high-ranking official on a presidential campaign. The email came from a compromised email account of a former senior adviser. At the time, it was not clear which campaign was involved, but over the weekend, Trump posted about the incursion on social media.

A 271-page vetting document about Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), was emailed to at least two news outlets, Politico and the Washington Post. The former outlet said that the document was “based on publicly available information about Vance’s past record and statements.”

The hacked document was sent using an AOL email address by someone identifying themselves only as “Robert.”

“We were just informed by Microsoft Corporation that one of our many websites was hacked by the Iranian Government – Never a nice thing to do!” Trump said on his social media platform Truth Social. “They were only able to get publicly available information but, nevertheless, they shouldn’t be doing anything of this nature.”

“Iran and others will stop at nothing, because our Government is Weak and Ineffective, but it won’t be for long,” he continued. “What Iran doesn’t realize is that I will make the World a better and safer place, and that’s good for them, also!”

In addition to the vetting document about Vance, there was also a document on Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), who was a contender for Trump’s vice presidential pick before Vance was ultimately selected.

There has been concern that foreign actors such as Russia and Iran may try to use technology to meddle in the coming election, which features Trump facing off against Vice President Kamala Harris for the White House.