Former President Donald Trump’s campaign said Saturday that it was hacked by an Iranian group in June, “which coincides with the selection of President Trump’s vice presidential nominee,” Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung told NBC. News.
The hack was first reported by Politico, and NBC News has not independently confirmed that the hack occurred or where it originated. Politico said it began receiving emails from an anonymous account sharing internal documents from the Trump campaign in July.
The documents included research papers on at least two of Trump’s nominees, including the GOP’s presumptive vice presidential nominee: Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.
“These documents were illegally obtained from foreign sources hostile to the United States and were designed to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos in our entire democratic process,” Cheung told NBC News.
Cheung was referring to a Microsoft report released Friday that said “an Iranian group linked to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or IRGC, sent a spear phishing email in June to a high-ranking official in the presidential campaign.”
Microsoft did not recognize the targeted campaign. A Microsoft spokesperson declined to share details about the incident beyond what was written in their report on Friday.
“Iranians know that President Trump will end their reign of terror just as he did during his first four years in the White House. Any media or news outlet that prints documents or internal communications is doing the bidding of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want,” Cheung added .
The FBI said it was “aware of media reports” but declined to comment further.
A representative of Iran’s UN mission in New York did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In its story, Politico wrote that the news organization asked the anonymous emailer where they got the leaked documents, and received a response: “I suggest you not be curious about where I got them from. Any answer to that question puts me at risk and also restricts you from legally releasing them.”
Representatives for Politico did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
