News Outlets Delayed Publishing that Trump Campaign was Target of Spear-Phishing Attack
DOJ investigating U.S. election interference by Iran as Colorado jury convicts former Mesa County clerk on 7 criminal counts of breaching voting equipment
News Outlets Delayed Publishing that Trump Campaign was Target of Spear-Phishing Attack
2016 is repeating itself. Only, instead of the media giving Donald Trump the “But Hillary’s emails” treatment, legacy and political news outlets sat on leaked documents for 3 weeks.
Over the weekend, Politico first reported that a hacker shared internal documents from the Trump campaign, but did not include any details beyond what is already public information. By Monday, the New York Times and the Washington Post also reported that the hacker leaked documents to reporters in their newsrooms. Neither have published what was shared with them that hasn’t been confirmed by the FBI or already made public.
At best, it’s an overcorrection from lessons learned in 2016. But it appears that these outlets are doing a solid for Donald Trump by delaying reporting on the incident for weeks and then keeping details of it under wraps instead of rolling with wall-to-wall coverage of a foreign actor repeating the same tactics used in 2016 to meddle in the 2024 election.
It’s only newsworthy if a Democratic candidate is the target. When it’s Trump, the corporate-owned media errs on the side of extreme caution.
The irresponsibility of these outlets is in their failure to consider how newsworthy cyber warfare is, as well as how sophisticated cyberattacks have become. It’s imperative that the media report on the vulnerability of U.S. infrastructure to foreign actors and how that plays into election interference.
Unfortunately, the media is more concerned about “both sides” and what the impact of leaked documents will be on a presidential campaign. It just makes their coverage look even more lopsided and sloppy.
Iran suspected of spear-phishing Roger Stone to gain access to Trump campaign network
On Saturday, Politico reported that an anonymous account contacted the outlet on July 22 and shared internal documents from the Trump campaign. In that article, the U.S. outlet, which is owned by a German media conglomerate run by a Trump ally, included an unverified claim by campaign spokesman Steven Cheung that Iran was responsible for the breach.
Politico acknowledged that, over the past 3 weeks, the hacker known as “Robert” had leaked communications from an unnamed senior Trump campaign official, including 2 research dossiers on Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance (R-OH), and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL)—both dated from earlier this year that vetted the potential VP picks for “potential vulnerabilities.” Politico also wrote that Robert claimed they had a “variety of documents,” including legal and court documents, as well as internal planning communications.
On Monday, the Washington Post reported that the FBI is investigating suspected hacking attempts by Iran targeting individuals within the Trump campaign and the Biden campaign. The billionaire-owned newspaper confirmed that it was GOP operative, Nixon stan, and Trump advisor Roger Stone who was allegedly targeted by a spear phishing attack in June. The hacker then used Stone’s personal email account to send emails with a malicious link to senior Trump campaign officials.
Microsoft discovered the cyberattack and coordinated with the FBI to alert Stone that his email account was compromised by a “Foreign State Actor,” which was used as a vehicle to attempt to gain access to the Trump campaign network. The FBI also briefed the Biden campaign in June about similar efforts by alleged Iranian hackers to compromise the campaign and were told that 3 Biden campaign staffers received spear phishing emails.
Shortly after, the Justice Department opened a national security investigation. The Washington Post also reported that FBI agents contacted Google and other tech companies about the cyberattacks on the two presidential campaigns. It also noted that while the FBI suspects Iran is the culprit of the spear phishing attacks, investigators do not know who has been leaking Trump campaign documents to the press or if they are affiliated with Iran.
The Trump campaign’s fishy history with foreign cyberattacks
Campaign advisors told the press that the Trump campaign did not alert the FBI when officials discovered it was hacked. They claim that they kept it to themselves because senior officials distrust the agency.
It’s highly sus given that senior Trump officials and advisors like Stone have played a role in past cyberattacks on its own presidential campaign, as well as Trump’s opponent. In 2017, the Department of Justice investigated Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Special counsel Robert Mueller described the Trump campaign as having encouraged the hack by Russia and that it was eager to utilize the materials to the campaign’s advantage. The special counsel’s office concluded that Russia interfered in the election to help Donald Trump by hacking the DNC and releasing emails and internal documents.
Mueller’s team also detailed the efforts by Trump and key allies to obstruct the investigation by blocking access to communications and campaign staffers. Stone was convicted of 7 felonies, including lying to investigators about his role in gaining access to Hillary Clinton’s emails via WikiLeaks during the 2016 election cycle. He was pardoned by Trump in December 2020.
This is why outlets like Politico should not take the Trump campaign’s word as gospel. The campaign was quick to blame Iran, pointing to a blog post published by Microsoft on August 8. But it’s curious that the campaign, whose central platform is “election integrity,” did not notify the FBI about the cyberattack and is refusing to speak with the press about it despite veiled threats and pointing the finger. Cheung told CNN that “any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications are doing the bidding of America’s enemies.”
Iran is central to U.S. election interference campaign, including murder-for-hire plot
It’s also curious why Politico, the New York Times, and the Washington Post all sat on the story about the Trump campaign being targeted by a cyberattack. This, in light of how the press covered Hillary’s emails in 2016 and that this isn’t the first presidential election Iran has interfered in.
U.S. intelligence officials confirmed in July that Iran has been covertly attempting to incite protests by posing as activists on social media, as well as funding protests for the Israel-Hamas conflict. CNN reported that Iranian operatives are aggressively seeking to influence the 2024 election—a campaign that includes fake news sites targeting the political divide in the United States.
Also, the Justice Department detained and charged a Pakistani man with ties to Iran in a murder-for-hire plot to assassinate U.S. politicians beginning in late August. The indictment was unsealed last week and the agency is investigating the matter.
The Senate Intelligence Committee has been briefed by intelligence officials on the spear phishing attack.
Former Mesa County Clerk found guilty on 7 of 10 criminal charges for breaching voting equipment
On Monday, a Mesa County, Colorado jury found former county clerk Tina Peters guilty of 4 felonies and 3 misdemeanors. Peters faced a total of 10 criminal charges for her role in assisting MyPillow guy Mike Lindell in illegally breaching the county’s voting equipment ahead of the 2022 midterms.
An investigation opened in 2021 by the 21st Judicial District in the Republican stronghold county and the Colorado Secretary of State’s office found that Peters gave an election worker’s security badge to a retired surfer and Lindell associate Conan Hayes and told visiting officials that Hayes, posing as Gerald Wood, worked for her.
Hayes used Wood’s badge to gain unauthorized access to the county’s voting equipment where he copied its hard drive and took images of the machine’s software, including passwords, during a secure update in May 2021. That copy of Mesa County’s hard drive was then displayed at a “cyber symposium” hosted by Lindell and posted online with the intent to undermine the U.S. election process.
The investigation uncovered that Peters began meeting with election deniers in April 2021. She testified during the trial that she began doubting the Dominion Voting Systems machines when moderate Republican candidates repeatedly defeated more extreme MAGA ones. She also admitted that she used Wood’s badge to give Hayes access to the machines, but the defense argued during the trial that Wood was in on the scheme. No hard evidence was presented by the defense to back up this allegation.
Defense lawyers also argued that Peters’ actions were within her authority to preserve election records. But two former staffers testified that Peters told them, “I’m f—d” and that she was “going to jail.” One staffer also stated that Peters told staff involved in the scheme to buy burner phones and keep it secret.
Peters was convicted of 3 felony counts of attempting to influence a public servant and 1 felony count of conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation. She was also convicted of first-degree official misconduct—a class 2 misdemeanor—as well as violation of duty and failure to comply with an order from the Secretary of State. The jury acquitted Peters on 3 counts—criminal impersonation, conspiracy to commit criminal impersonation, and identity theft. She will be sentenced on October 3.