Multiple Iranians indicted over Trump campaign hack, Politico reports
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking during a press conference in New York, on Sept 26.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
Follow topic:
WASHINGTON – Multiple Iranians have been indicted by a US grand jury on charges over hacking Republican Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, Politico reported on Sept 26.
Politico said the names of the defendants and the specific criminal charges were not immediately available. Without citing sources, it said a grand jury secretly approved the indictment on the afternoon of Sept 26 and that the Justice Department was expected to announce the charges as soon as Sept 27.
The Justice Department declined to comment and the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Trump campaign said in August that some of its internal communications were hacked, and blamed the Iranian government.
Trump, who is running for second four-year term in the White House, said on Sept 25 that Iran may have been behind recent attempts to assassinate him and suggested that if he were president and another country threatened a US presidential candidate, it risked being “blown to smithereens”.
Iran said on Sept 26 that accusations that it had targeted former US officials were baseless
Trump made his remarks after US intelligence officials briefed him a day earlier
Federal authorities are probing assassination attempts targeting Trump at one of his Florida golf courses in mid-September and at a rally in Pennsylvania in July. There has been no public suggestion by law enforcement agencies of involvement by Iran, or any other foreign power in either incident.
Also on Sept 26, Trump raised the idea of making a deal with Iran aimed at ending hostilities if he is elected president on Nov 5.
“I would do that,” Trump said, without offering details on what sort of deal he was talking about. REUTERS
