Iranian operatives charged in Trump campaign hack

The Justice Department has charged several Iranian operatives in connection with the hack of former President Trump’s 2024 campaign.

Prosecutors on Friday unsealed charges against Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri and Yasar Balaghi — all members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the nation’s armed forces.  

They each face 18 counts, including aggravated identity theft, material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, wire fraud, and conspiracy to obtain information from a protected computer.  

The men “prepared for and engaged in a wide-ranging hacking campaign” that targeted current and former U.S. government officials, members of the media, political campaigns and others, prosecutors said. 

The scheme began around January 2020 and continued through at least this month, according to the charging papers.

“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 and former U.S. officials that could be used to advance the malign activities of the IRGC,” the indictment reads. 

The plot is also part of ongoing efforts to avenge the death of military official Qassem Soleimani, who headed a branch of the IRGC, according to the indictment. Soleimani was assassinated in January 2020 on orders approved by then-President Trump under the condition that Soleimani had been plotting attacks against Americans abroad.

Trump’s campaign was hacked earlier this summer, but the issue was not made public until August, after reporters contacted the former president’s team who said they were approached by a man claiming to be named Robert who said he had internal campaign documents.  

The indictment says the men used fake online personas to “trick” several victims. The Washington Post previously reported that Trump campaign adviser Susie Wiles and longtime ally Roger Stone were among the hackers’ targets.

The FBI previously indicated Iran made similar attempts to hack the Democratic campaign of President Biden, before he dropped out of the race. Vice President Harris was also targeted, but the effort was unsuccessful.

The agency said Iran attempted to share stolen information from the Trump campaign with Biden’s campaign — and continues to send material to media outlets — but there is no evidence the president’s campaign engaged with them. Harris’s campaign previously condemned the effort and said similar emails were ignored. 

Prosecutors say hackers also targeted current or former officials at agencies including the Department of Defense, State Department and the CIA, in addition to current or former members of Congress, White House staffers and several journalists.  

In a statement, FBI Director Christopher Wray called the hacking effort “brazen behavior” by Iran to interfere in the presidential election. Iran previously denied involvement in the hacking campaign. 

“Today the FBI would like to send a message to the Government of Iran: You and your hackers can’t hide behind your keyboards,” Wray said.  

“If you try to meddle in our elections, we’re going to hold you accountable. If you try to attack our infrastructure or commit violence against our citizens, we’re going to disrupt you. And as long as you keep attempting to flout the rule of law, you’re going to keep running into the FBI,” he said. 

Updated at 1:21 p.m. EDT