The White House condemned the reported hacking of the Trump campaign by Iran, though it was short of details on how it will prevent future attacks targeting presidential campaigns.
“This administration strongly condemns any foreign government or entity who attempts to interfere in our electoral process or seeks to undermine confidence in our democratic institution,” press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told the Washington Examiner.
Trump’s campaign announced over the weekend that it had fallen victim to foreign hackers, believed to be from Iran.
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, former President Donald Trump posted about the incursion on social media.
A 271-page vetting document about Trump’s running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), was emailed to at least two news outlets, Politico and the Washington Post. The former outlet said the document was “based on publicly available information about Vance’s past record and statements.”
The White House said it takes such reports “extremely seriously.”
“We do not tolerate, we do not tolerate this type, anything like this influence or interference effort,” Jean-Pierre said. “We have made that very clear with foreign actors that such interference is unacceptable.”
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She said further details would have to be provided by the FBI or the Department of Justice.
Top U.S. intelligence experts and officials have expressed concern that hostile foreign actors are working to influence the presidential election. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee’s cybersecurity subcommittee, has requested a briefing from the Department of Homeland Security into the incident.