Federal authorities are planning to file charges in the alleged Iranian scheme to hack into former President Donald Trump’s campaign and leak internal documents, according to multiple reports.
The hackers contacted several news organizations from at least one named persona, “Robert,” a figure on which the FBI investigation has focused. Investigators say the person posing as Robert was acting on the order of the Iranian government and stole data files to spread to news companies.
Prominent Trump adviser Susie Wiles was one of the hackers’ targets, among several other campaign officials. The hackers allegedly used phishing emails that were disguised to appear legitimate but could give hackers access to data from the recipient.
The hackers’ attempts to spread the data to news organizations appeared to be an act aimed an influencing U.S. presidential elections, Matthew Olsen, the head of the Justice Department’s National Security Division, warned Thursday in a speech in New York.
“Iranian activity is growing increasingly aggressive as this election nears,” he said. “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.”
The Trump campaign declined to comment to the Washington Examiner on the potential charges.
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Trump’s campaign was hacked in August, earning the condemnation not just of Trump but of the White House and House Democrats.
“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 wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, at the time. “They were only able to get publicly available information but, nevertheless, they shouldn’t be doing anything of this nature.”