The Justice Department is preparing to file criminal charges related to the Iranian regime’s hacking of former President Donald Trump’s campaign, according to multiple reports.
DOJ officials believe they have gathered sufficient evidence to bring a case against the suspected hacker or hackers responsible for stealing information contained in the email accounts of Trump campaign advisers and offering it to news outlets in July, the Washington Post and Associated Press reported Thursday.
The exact nature of the charges, who will be charged and when the complaint will be filed is unknown.
The FBI’s probe into the cyber crime centered on a person or persons going by “Robert” online.
“Robert” is an entity believed to be associated with Iran who offered Trump campaign material to reporters at the Washington Post and Politico in an apparent effort to meddle in the 2024 presidential election.
Tehran’s targets reportedly included Trump’s lawyer Lindsey Halligan and senior campaign adviser Susie Wiles.
Last month, the Trump campaign acknowledged that it had been hacked – blaming Iran – after Politico reported that it had received a dossier on Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) purportedly compiled by the campaign months before he was tapped as Trump’s running mate.
The outlet did not reveal details about what it received, but said an AOL email account belonging to “Robert” passed the material along.
Officials from the FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency confirmed last month that Iran was behind a hack and attempted to breach the Biden campaign’s email accounts as well.
Microsoft and Google previously revealed Iran breached a campaign.
Hackers acting on behalf of foreign governments are usually based overseas, in countries that will not extradite them to the US, which makes it unlikely that they will ever stand trial.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, who heads the DOJ’s National Security Division, revealed Thursday that Iran “is making a greater effort to influence this year’s election than it has in prior election cycles and that Iranian activity is growing increasingly aggressive as this election nears.”
“Iran perceives this year’s elections to be particularly consequential in impacting Iran’s national security interests, increasing Tehran’s inclination to try to shape the outcome,” he said in a speech in New York City, according to the Associated Press.
The Post has reached out to the DOJ and the Trump campaign for comment.
