The FBI has opened an investigation into the Trump campaign’s allegations that it was targeted by hackers working for the Iranian government.
“We can confirm that the FBI is investigating this matter,” the agency said in a brief statement Monday, without specifically naming the former president or Iran.
A Trump campaign spokesperson told the BBC that the documents were obtained illegally by “foreign sources hostile to the United States”.
Iranian officials have denied any connection to the hack, and the U.S. government has not formally accused Iran.
The FBI is also investigating whether Iranian hackers targeted the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris campaign, according to CBS News, the BBC’s news partner, citing people familiar with the investigation.
The Trump campaign’s statement came a day after Microsoft released a report saying Iranian hackers targeted the campaign of an unnamed U.S. presidential candidate in June.
Microsoft’s Threat Analysis Center (MTAC) said the campaign received a spear-phishing email – a message designed to appear trustworthy in order to trick the target into clicking on a malicious link.
On Saturday, Trump said the hackers were only able to “obtain publicly available information.”
The FBI began its investigations earlier this summer after both campaigns were targeted by phishing attempts, CBS News reported.
According to the Washington Post, three Biden-Harris campaign staffers were also targeted by phishing emails in the days before President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the race.
A spokesperson for Harris’ campaign said in a statement to the media that the campaign “vigilantly monitors and protects against cyber threats, and we are not aware of any security breaches in our systems.”
The BBC has asked Harris’ campaign team for comment.
According to the Washington Post, the FBI’s investigation into the hacking attempts was first opened in June.
Democratic Congressman Adam Schiff is among several lawmakers who have called on the FBI to reveal what it knows about the hacking attempts.
He said the U.S. intelligence community “moved far too slowly to properly identify the Russian hacking and dumping program” in 2016 and “should act quickly here.”
The announcement comes after Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell said he was requesting a briefing from the Department of Homeland Security on the “alleged hack of the Trump presidential campaign.”
“Yes, Trump is the most despicable person to ever run for office. He also sought to hack foreign computer systems in a previous election… But that doesn’t mean America tolerates foreign interference,” he posted on X/Twitter on Saturday.
At his campaign rallies in 2016, he called on Russia to hack his opponent in the race, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
US security sources had previously warned of an Iranian plot to assassinate Trump, unrelated to last month’s attempted shooting in Pennsylvania.
And on Tuesday, the U.S. Justice Department charged a Pakistani man suspected of having ties to Iran with plotting to assassinate U.S. officials, potentially including the former president.
