Multiple Indictments Returned in Iranian Hacking Plot Against Trump Campaign

On Friday, the Department of Justice announced multiple indictments of individuals with ties to Iran in connection with the hacking plot involving the campaign of former President Donald Trump. 

News that the campaign had been hacked first broke in early August. What we learned at that time was that the email account of at least one senior staffer had been hacked and that documents from that hack were sent to POLITICO and other news outlets. Reportedly, this included material related to the vetting of Trump’s running mate, Sen. JD Vance (OH), as well as Sen. Marco Rubio (FL). Fairly quickly, the U.S. Government asserted that Iran was behind the hacks.

Trump Campaign Hacked by Foreign Government and Documents Sent to Media

We Now Know Who Was Behind the Hacking Attempts
on the Trump and Biden-Harris Campaigns

On Thursday, left-leaning journalist Ken Klippenstein broke with the outlets that had refrained from publicizing the information and published the dossier, including private information such as Vance’s social security number, personal phone number, physical addresses, and private email addresses, without making any effort to redact that information. This set off a furor over his doxxing of Vance, particularly in light of the recent assassination attempts on Trump. Klippenstein’s account was suspended from X/Twitter, with Elon Musk explaining why. (Which, in turn, set off another furor over the platform and free speech, etc.) 

This is one of the most egregious, evil doxxing actions we’ve ever seen.

Presidential candidates are not speculatively in danger – there have already been two attempts on @realDonaldTrump’s life.

Moreover, the doxxing included detailed information on the addresses of their…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 26, 2024

TREACHERY: Far-Left Blogger Reveals JD Vance’s Personal Information, Hacked by Iran

Leftists Make Ridiculous Argument About X Suspending
Journo Klippenstein, Who Doxxed JD Vance

The indictment against three Iranian nationals was unsealed on Friday. Named are Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri, and Yasar Balaghi, who, according to the indictment, were employed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and between January 2020 and September 2024: 

prepared for and engaged in a wide-ranging hacking campaign that used spearfishing and social engineering techniques to target and compromise the accounts of current and former U.S. government officials, members of the media, non-governmental organizations, and individuals associated with U.S. political campaigns. Such activity is part of Iran’s continuing efforts to stoke discord, erode confidence in the U.S. electoral process, and unlawfully acquire information relating to current informer U.S. officials that could be used to advance the malign activities of the IRGC, including ongoing efforts to avenge the death of Qasem Soleimani, the former commander of the IRGC – Qods Force (“IRGC-QF “).

The 37-page indictment lays out the methods used by the defendants to perpetrate the hacks and obtain unauthorized material and charges them with 18 counts, including:

• (Count 1) Conspiracy to Defraud the United States; Conspiracy to Obtain Information from a Protected Computer; Defraud and Obtain a Thing of Value; Commit Fraud Involving Authentication Features; Commit Aggravated Identity Theft; Commit Access Device Fraud; and Commit Wire Fraud While Falsely Registering Domains
• (Count 2) Providing Material Support or Resources to Terrorists; Conspiracy to Provide Material Support to a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization
• (Counts 3-10) Fraud by Wire, Radio, or Television; Wire Fraud
• (Counts 11-18) Fraud With Identification Documents; Aggravated Identity Theft

Following the announcement, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) released a statement on the matter:

“Through hacking campaigns and plotting assassinations, Iran’s clear objective is to target former President Trump and interfere in the U.S. election. What is also clear is that the Biden-Harris Administration is failing to respond to Iran. President Biden and Vice President Harris must immediately and forcefully push back against Iran to protect former President Trump and ensure the integrity of our upcoming election.”  

This is a developing story. 

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