Harris campaign says it did not use Trump campaign materials sent from Iranian hackers
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign said on Thursday that it did not use any materials that the FBI said Iranian hackers gathered from email accounts associated with former President Donald Trump’s campaign and sent to President Joe Biden’s campaign before he left the race.
Trump’s campaign on Wednesday demanded more information from Harris’ campaign including that it disclose the materials it received and whether it was used.
A Harris campaign official told ABC News that “the materials were not used.” The campaign declined to comment on whether or not they would comply with the Trump campaign’s request to disclose what they received.
Over the summer, Iranian hackers sent unsolicited emails to individuals associated with then-candidate Biden that “contained an excerpt taken from stolen, non-public material from former President Trump’s campaign as text in the emails,” according to information released by the FBI and other U.S. intelligence agencies on Wednesday.
The contents of those excerpts are not yet clear.
The FBI said there was no information indicating that the recipients of the information replied to the hackers’ messages.
The White House said Biden only learned Wednesday about the Iranian hackers sending what the FBI called “stolen” information from the Trump campaign to individuals associated with his campaign.
“We learned about the statement yesterday, and the president has been made aware of it now,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Thursday. “You’ve seen us take actions to hold accountable those who week to undermine confidence in our democracy, and we will continue to do so.”
Harris’ campaign said Wednesday that it has cooperated with law enforcement and the investigation into the messages and said it was “not aware of any material being sent directly to the campaign.”
“A few individuals were targeted on their personal emails with what looked like a spam or phishing attempt,” Harris campaign spokesperson Morgan Finkelstein said in a statement Wednesday.
Trump’s campaign said hackers are interfering to help Harris and Biden “because they know President Trump will restore his tough sanctions and stand against their reign of terror.”
Iran’s Mission to the United Nations called the intelligence agencies’ findings “fundamentally unfounded, and wholly inadmissible.”
ABC News’ Selina Wang, Jack Date and Luke Barr contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against TikTok and its parent company, ByteDance, accusing the social media giant of unlawfully collecting and retaining data from children in violation of United States privacy laws.
The civil consumer protection complaint filed Friday in federal court in California accuses TikTok of collecting a “wide variety” of personal information from children who created accounts on the app dating back to 2019 through the present day.
The department further alleges that even when children created accounts in TikTok’s designated “Kids Mode,” the company still unlawfully collected and retained children’s email addresses and other personal information without notifying or getting consent from parents.
The alleged privacy violations “have resulted in millions of children under 13 using the regular TikTok app, subjecting them to extensive data collection and allowing them to interact with adult users and access adult content,” the department said in a release announcing the lawsuit.
“The Department is deeply concerned that TikTok has continued to collect and retain children’s personal information despite a court order barring such conduct,” acting Associate Attorney General Benjamin Mizer said in a statement. “With this action, the Department seeks to ensure that TikTok honors its obligation to protect children’s privacy rights and parents’ efforts to protect their children.”
A TikTok spokesperson disputed the allegations, saying many “relate to past events and practices that are factually inaccurate or have been addressed.”
“We are proud of our efforts to protect children, and we will continue to update and improve the platform,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “To that end, we offer age-appropriate experiences with stringent safeguards, proactively remove suspected underage users, and have voluntarily launched features such as default screentime limits, Family Pairing, and additional privacy protections for minors.”
The lawsuit against the company was widely expected after the Federal Trade Commission in June announced it had referred a complaint to the DOJ following an investigation of TikTok and ByteDance’s alleged violations under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
TikTok said at the time it disagreed with the FTC’s allegations, which it argued were either inaccurate or outdated policy practices the company had already addressed.
The lawsuit also comes just days after the Justice Department argued in court filings that TikTok poses a unique threat to U.S. national security as it sought to defend a newly passed law that would require the company to sell its American-based operations or risk an all-out ban. The company has sued to block enforcement of the law before it takes effect in January, arguing it is unconstitutional and would violate its more than 170 million American users’ First Amendment rights.
(WASHINGTON) — Vice President Kamala Harris wrapped up what has been a whirlwind week in the presidential race with her campaign saying Sunday it has raised more than $200 million in less than a week.
On Thursday night, Harris met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and took the lead in addressing the public about their discussions.
Harris has secured commitments from enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee if they all honor their commitment when voting, according to ABC News reporting.
Here’s how the news is developing:
Election content on social media ‘could be propaganda’ for foreign adversaries: ODNI
Content about the election on social media “could be propaganda” for foreign adversaries, officials with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence warned on Monday.
“The American public should know that content that they read online, especially on social media, could be foreign propaganda, even if it appears to be coming from fellow Americans or originating in the United States,” an ODNI official said on a conference call with reporters on Monday. “In short, foreign influence actors are getting better at hiding their hand and using Americans to do it.”
Russia is still pervasive in this space and remains the biggest threat to the election, according to the officials.
The officials also warned that the influence operators will use the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump “as part of their narratives portraying the event to fit their broad goals.”
-ABC News’ Luke Barr
DNC says it raked in $6.5M in grassroots donations in 24 hours after Biden endorsed Harris
The Democratic National Committee is claiming it has raised $6.5 million in grassroots donations in the 24 hours after President Biden’s endorsement of Vice President Harris on July 21.
The DNC said $1 million was donated in the 5 p.m. hour alone for what they’re claiming is a record for its best online fundraising day of all time.
The DNC is making a significant push in battleground states, investing an additional $15 million into those crucial states this month to fund new field offices, build data infrastructure, mobilize volunteers and strengthen coordinated campaigns.
“Democratic voters, volunteers, and grassroots donors are fired up,” chairman Jaime Harrison said in a memo. “We are confident that in our battleground states, Democrats will win up and down the ballot in November.”
-ABC News’ Gabriella Abdul-Hakim
5:28 PM EDT Gov. Andy Beshear rallies for Harris in Atlanta, calls out JD Vance
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear spoke on Sunday at the opening of Kamala Harris’ campaign office in Forsyth County, Georgia.
The possible VP pick for Harris has been an effective surrogate for the vice president’s White House bid over the weekend, coming to the metro Atlanta event fresh off of a stump in Iowa on Saturday night.
The red-state governor introduced himself to the Southern audience on Sunday while boosting Harris’ candidacy and taking a number of swipes at Trump’s Vice Presidential pick, JD Vance.
“Are you ready to beat Donald Trump? Are you ready to beat JD Vance? Are you ready to elect Kamala Harris president of the United States of America” Beshear asked the crowd, adding, “Let’s win this race,”
“Let me tell you just a bit about myself,” Beshear said. “I’m a proud pro-union governor. I’m a proud pro-choice governor. I am a proud pro-public education governor. I am a proud pro-diversity governor and I’m a proud Harris for president governor,” he added.
Calling out Vance, Beshear said, “Just let me be clear. JD Vance ain’t from Kentucky. He ain’t from Appalachia. And he ain’t gonna be the vice president of the United States.”
-ABC News’ Isabella Murray
2:18 PM EDT Former Vice President Al Gore endorses Kamala Harris
Former Vice President Al Gore endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday.
“As a prosecutor, [Kamala Harris] took on Big Oil companies — and won. As [VP], she cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the most significant investment in climate solutions in history, the Inflation Reduction Act. That’s the kind of climate champion we need in the White House,” he wrote on X.
“With so much at stake in this year’s election — from strengthening democracy in the US and abroad, to expanding opportunity for the American people, to accelerating climate action — I’m proud to endorse Kamala Harris for President,” he added.
-ABC News’ Oren Oppenheim
July 28, 2024, 10:42 AM EDT Vance says Trump ‘doesn’t care’ about his past criticism
During a quick stop at a diner in Minnesota on Sunday morning, Sen. JD Vance on Sunday spoke about his past criticisms of former President Donald Trump.
When asked by ABC News if he and Trump have talked about his past criticism of the former president, Vance said yes, adding that Trump “doesn’t care about what I said eight years ago.”
“I mean, look, President Trump and I have talked a lot about this,” Vance said. “In fact, I sometimes joke that I wish that he had the memory of Joe Biden, because he’s got a memory like a steel trap, and he certainly remembers criticisms that people have made.”
“But this is where the media, I think, really misses Trump — Donald Trump accepts that people can change their mind, and you ask, ‘Why did I change my mind on Donald Trump?’ Because his agenda made people’s lives better,” Vance said.
“This whole thing is not about red team versus blue team or winning an election for its own sake. It’s about getting a chance to govern so that you can bring down the cost of groceries, close that border and stop the fentanyl coming across our country for four years,” Vance continued, saying he was “wrong” about Trump.
“He did a better job of that than anybody that I’ve ever seen as president in my lifetime. So I changed my mind, because he did a good job. And that’s what you do when people do a good job and you’re wrong. I’ve talked to President Trump a lot about it, but look, he, I mean, he just, he doesn’t… He doesn’t care about what I said eight years ago. He cares about whether we together [and] can govern the country successful.”
When asked again if the two have talked about the subject, specifically in the last week since his comments have resurfaced, Vance admitted that they haven’t spoken about it and their conversations have focused on the race ahead.
-ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh, Soorin Kim and Hannah Demissie
(WASHINGTON) — Russia, the United States and several other countries on Thursday were engaged in an extraordinary, 24-prisoner exchange, the largest of its kind since the Cold War and one in which President Joe Biden was directly involved, the White House said Thursday.
The swap allows the two wrongfully detained American citizens held by Moscow — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan — to return home.
Shortly before noon Thursday, Gershkovich and Whelan had been freed and were on their way back to the U.S., Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
The multipart deal is the product of months of detailed, painstaking negotiations, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said.
“Some of these women and men have been unjustly held for years. All have endured unimaginable suffering and uncertainty. Today, their agony is over,” Biden said in a statement.
“This is a very good afternoon,” Biden said not long after in remarks at the White House, surrounded by family members of those freed. “Moments ago, the families and I were able to speak to them on the telephone from the Oval Office. They’re out of Russia.”
Asked by a reporter what he told them, Biden responded, smiling, “I said, ‘Welcome almost home.'”
The exchange also frees Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist, and Vladimir Kara-Muza, a legal permanent resident of the U.S..
“The president is gathering the families of Paul Whelan, Evan Gershkovich, Alsu Kurmasheva and Vladimir Kara-Murza at the White House to share with them the news that an exchange is underway to secure the release of their loved ones from Russia,” Sullivan told reporters on Thursday morning.
According to a senior administration official, Biden was monitoring the situation “in near real time” through updates from his national security team, and will stay plugged in throughout of the day.
The official also hoped to have the families connect with their loved ones on the airplane.
Release ‘uniquely challenging
Sullivan said securing the release of the Americans was “uniquely challenging” due to the strained relationship between the countries and the war in Ukraine.
Another hurdle, he said, was Russia’s unwillingness to agree to a swap that did not include Vadim Krasikov, a Russian operative and hitman who was serving a life sentence in Germany for gunning down an opponent to the Kremlin on the streets of Berlin.
“That required extensive diplomatic engagement with our German counterparts, starting at the top with the president himself, who worked this issue directly with Chancellor Schultz. We are deeply grateful to Germany for their partnership,” Sullivan said.
Gershkovich, 32, was arrested by Russian authorities in March 2023 for espionage, a charge he and U.S. officials flatly deny, with President Biden saying Gershkovich was targeted for being a journalist and an American.
After an unusually hasty trial that played out behind closed doors, Gershkovich was found guilty and sentenced to 16 years in a high-security penal colony.
Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Irish and Canadian citizenship, was arrested in December 2018 while traveling on an American passport in Russia and also accused of espionage.
Both the Biden and Trump administrations denied the allegation against Whelan. He was convicted on the charges in June 2020 and sentenced to 16 years in prison, ultimately serving five.
Kurmasheva, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Russia, was arrested by Russian authorities in 2023 for failing to register as a foreign agent. Kara-Muza was serving a 25-year sentence for criticism of the war in Ukraine.
As part of the exchange, Russia has also agreed to release a dozen German nationals who were being held as political prisoners.
Biden’s role and US-Russia relations
A senior administration official said even on the day he announced he was no longer seeking reelection, President Biden was on the phone working to secure this deal.
“The hour before he released that statement – literally an hour before he released that statement – he was on the phone with his Slovenian counterpart urging them to make the final arrangements and get this deal over the finish line,” the official said. “This exchange is not by accident. It really is the result of a heck of a lot of leadership by President Biden and by the strength of relationships,” the senior administration official said.
A senior administration official says despite this significant agreement, there should be no expectation of improved U.S.-Russia relations going forward.
This official said the administration has shown it can hold Russia accountable for its aggression on the world stage while “compartmentalizing out” the work on securing the release of Americans that are wrongfully detained.
“I would be cautious and would counsel anyone to be cautious in surmising from this that it’s some sort of break through in the relationship and it portends some detente with Russia or an easing of the tensions in our relationship.”
This official said Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine, pressure on NATO allies and across Europe, and the “burgeoning defense relationship” Putin is forming with China, North Korea and Iran are “of significant concern,” the official said.
“We will not see a policy change by President Biden and the administration when it comes to standing up to Putin’s aggression,” the official said.
Prisoners handed over by US
The three prisoners handed over from the U.S. are Roman Seleznev, Vladislav Klyushin and Vadim Konoshchenock.
The son of a Russian lawmaker, Seleznev was found guilty by a U.S. federal court in Washington State running a cyber scheme targeting thousands of U.S. businesses, resulting in $169 million in losses. He was sentenced to 27 years in prison in 2017.
That same year, Seleznev pleaded guilty to participating in a racketeering scheme in Nevada and conspiracy to commit bank fraud in Georgia, receiving a 14-year jail term for each to run concurrently with the Washington sentence.
Klyushin, a Russian businessman linked to the Kremlin, was sentenced to nine years in prison in September 2023 after he was convicted of playing a key role in a stock market cheating scheme that relied on insider information obtained by hacking U.S. computer systems.
Konoshchenko was accused of smuggling American-made military equipment into Russia and laundering money for Moscow. He was awaiting trial and facing a maximum sentence of 30 years behind bars.
Apart from Krasikov, prisoners returning to Russia from other countries include two from Slovenia, one from Norway, and one from Poland.
Despite the groundbreaking nature of the deal, White House officials cautioned against seeing the agreement as a watershed moment for U.S.-Russia relations at large.
“We will not see a policy change by President Biden and the administration when it comes to standing up to Putin’s aggression,” one official said.
The deal comes as a surprise to Kremlin observers and some U.S. officials, who believed Vladimir Putin would be reticent to strike a deal that could be perceived as a win for the Biden administration.
The State Department revealed in December that the U.S. had put forward a “substantial proposal” to free Gershkovich and Whelan but said Russia had rejected it—although administration officials said negotiations between the countries pressed forward.
Former President Donald Trump, the Republican candidate for the White House, previously promised that he would free Gershkovich “as soon as I win the election.”
Gershkovich and Whelan were the only two Americans imprisoned in Russia considered by the U.S. government to be wrongfully detained, but at least ten other U.S. citizens are jailed in the country under dubious circumstances, according to officials familiar with the matter.
One official said that the U.S. regretted it could not include Marc Fogel, an American school teacher arrested in Russia for trying to carry a small amount of medical marijuana into the country, as part of the swap.
In recent years, the U.S. and Russia have completed two straightforward one-for-one prisoner exchanges to free wrongfully detained Americans.
The countries swapped U.S. Marine Corps veteran Trevor Reed for Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was serving out a sentence for drug smuggling, in April 2022.
In December of the same year, Russia freed Brittney Griner, a WNBA basketball player, in exchange for the release of Viktor Bout, an arms dealer known as the “merchant of death.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.