American agencies announce another attempt by Iran to interfere in the US elections

2024-09-19 07:25:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

American agencies announce another attempt by Iran to interfere in the US

Iranian hackers appear to have tried to pique the interest of President Joe Biden's campaign team with information stolen from his opponent Donald Trump's campaign, including sending e-mails to people connected to the Democratic president in an attempt to interfere with 2024 election, the FBI and other federal agencies said Wednesday.

There is no evidence that any of the people who received the e-mail responded, officials said, preventing the hacked information from becoming public in the final months of the election campaign.

The hackers sent the emails in late June and early July to individuals who were connected to President Joe Biden's campaign, before he withdrew from the race.

According to a US government statement, the e-mails "contained an excerpt from stolen, non-public materials from former President Trump's campaign."

The announcement is the latest effort to highlight what officials say is Iran's continued intent to interfere in the 2024 election, including a cyber attack that targeted former President Trump's campaign.

The FBI, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency said the cyber attack on the Trump campaign and an attempted unauthorized access to sensitive information of the Biden-Harris campaign are part of an attempt to undermine voter confidence in elections and incite conflict.

On August 10, Mr Trump's campaign team said it had been the target of a cyber attack and that Iranian actors had stolen and shared internal documents containing sensitive data.

At least three media outlets, 'Politico', 'New York Times' and 'Washington Post', were provided with internal campaign materials of former President Donald Trump. So far, none of them have given any details about the materials that were sent to them.

In a statement, Morgan Finkelstein, a campaign spokesman for Ms. Kamala Harris, said the Vice President's team had cooperated with law enforcement once it learned that individuals associated with Mr. Biden's team were among those who had received the emails.

"We are not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign, but some individuals have received e-mails to their personal addresses," Mr. Finkelstein said.

Caroline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for former President Trump's campaign, called the latest attempt to send stolen information to President Biden's campaign "further evidence that the Iranians are actively interfering in the election" to help Ms. Harris.

Earlier, Iran has rejected meddling in the elections in the United States.

Iran's permanent mission to the United Nations in New York did not respond to a Reuters request for comment./ Voa