Trump campaign claims it was hacked by ‘foreign sources’
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump’s campaign is claiming it was hacked by “foreign sources” with the intent to interfere in the upcoming election.
The Trump campaign statement cited a report published by Microsoft on Friday, which said, “In June 2024, Mint Sandstorm — a group run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) intelligence unit — sent a spear-phishing email to a high-ranking official of a presidential campaign from a compromised email account of a former senior advisor. The phishing email contained a fake forward with a hyperlink that directs traffic through an actor-controlled domain before redirecting to the listed domain.”
The IRGC is a branch of the Iranian Armed Forces.
Microsoft does not identify the presidential campaign in its report. Microsoft has also not responded to ABC News’ request for more information.
A White House National Security Council spokesperson deferred to the Justice Department when asked for comment on the allegations.
“The Biden-Harris Administration strongly condemns any foreign government or entity who attempts to interfere in our electoral process or seeks to undermine confidence in our democratic institutions,” the spokesperson said.
They added that they take any reports of “such activity extremely seriously.”
The Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice declined to comment.
Outside of the Trump campaign statement, ABC News has not confirmed the campaign was hacked by foreign sources with the intent to interfere in the election.
The Secret Service referred ABC News to the Trump campaign and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence didn’t respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ MaryAlice Parks, Michelle Stoddart and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The United States is dealing with a “heightened threat environment,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas says, as the FBI is investigating an apparent second assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump.
It’s not only the “historic threat of foreign terrorists” that persists, but also home-grown extremists, Mayorkas said Tuesday.
“We’re now speaking of individuals radicalized to violence because of ideologies of hate, anti-government sentiment, personal narratives and other motivations propagated on online platforms,” the secretary said during the POLITICO AI & Tech Summit.
Threats from both at home and abroad are worrisome, senior officials from the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and members of Congress say. FBI Director Christopher Wray has previously said he sees “blinking red lights everywhere” in terms of terror threats.
On Sunday, Ryan Wesley Routh was allegedly lying in wait for nearly 12 hours near the Republican presidential nominee’s West Palm Beach golf course before a Secret Service agent spotted him, according to a criminal complaint.
Routh did not get off a single shot, Secret Service Acting Director Ron Rowe said Monday, and at no time was the former president in the sight line of the suspect. The suspect was taken into custody and faces charges of possession of a firearm as a convicted felon and possession of a firearm with an obliterated serial number, prosecutors said.
The former president has the same level of security that is “quite approximate” to President Joe Biden’s, Mayorkas said Tuesday, adding that agents did their job on Sunday and “they deserve to be commended for it.”
Trump, speaking Tuesday in a phone interview with ABC News’ Jonathan Karl, also praised the Secret Service for stopping the apparent assassination attempt.
“I’m fine. The Secret Service did a good job, actually,” he said.
Trump also spoke about the heightened threat environment, telling ABC News, “Probably always been dangerous, but it’s more so now, I think.”
In the wake of the July 13 attempted assassination of Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI issued a bulletin to law enforcement across the country warning them that violent extremists could try to conduct “follow-on or retaliatory” attacks at events over the next few months related to the 2024 presidential election.
During a March hearing in front of Congress, the FBI director testified that threats from various groups have reached a “whole other level.”
“Even before [Hamas’ attack against Israel on] October 7, I would have told this committee that we were at a heightened threat level from a terrorism perspective — in the sense that it’s the first time I’ve seen in a long, long time,” Wray said on March 11.
“The threats from homegrown violent extremists — that is jihadist-inspired, extremists, domestic violent extremists, foreign terrorist organizations and state-sponsored terrorist organizations — all being elevated at one time since October 7, though, that threat has gone to a whole other level,” he said at the time.
In the aftermath of the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump, the Secret Service said it changed the way the former president is protected. Former director Kimberly Cheadle, who came under scrutiny for the agency’s failure to prevent the assassination attempt, also resigned.
Secretary Mayorkas appointed a new acting director — Rowe — and praised him for stepping up and leading the agency.
“I appreciate his willingness to lead the Secret Service at this incredibly challenging moment, as the agency works to get to the bottom of exactly what happened on July 13 and cooperate with ongoing investigations and Congressional oversight,” Mayorkas said at the time. “At the same time, the Secret Service must effectively carry on its expansive mission that includes providing 24/7 protection for national leaders and visiting dignitaries and securing events of national significance in this dynamic and heightened threat environment.”
During an April hearing in front of a congressional committee, the secretary said there’s been a “dramatic increase” in the number of threats facing Jewish and Muslim people in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
“We’re certainly operating in a charged political environment, and there are many reasons for that,” Rep. Seth Magaziner, D-R.I., a member of the House Homeland Security Committee, told ABC News on Monday.
“Certainly the partisanship of our country in recent years has something to do with it, easy access to buy military-style weapons also plays a role in it, and also importantly, our adversaries are purposefully trying to stoke divisions within our country between Americans through social media and other means,” he said.
The intelligence community has warned of foreign actors, mainly Russia, China and Iran, carrying out influence operations in the United States with an aim to divide the country ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Earlier this month, the Justice Department alleged that two employees of Russia Today, or RT — a Russian state-controlled media outlet, implemented a nearly $10 million scheme “to fund and direct a Tennessee-based company to publish and disseminate content deemed favorable to the Russian government.”
“So it’s important that the Department of Justice just announced a series of actions to prosecute individuals who are involved in a Russian plot to try to divide Americans against each other politically,” said Magaziner, who’s also the ranking member on the House Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence.
“And we need all of our federal agencies, the Department of Justice, Homeland Security, CISA [Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency] and others, to remain vigilant and to expose those foreign actors who are trying to turn Americans against each other,” he added.
John Sandweg, former general counsel at the Department of Homeland Security under then-President Barack Obama, agreed.
“The situation is inflamed by a multitude of factors, but I do think it is important to emphasize the role that foreign state adversaries are playing — not only with regards to their support for extremist groups abroad, or efforts to disrupt and influence the election, but also through their efforts to further divide us as a nation,” Sandweg told ABC News on Monday, adding this is an “unprecedented” threat environment.
The FBI is investigating what it called an “attempted assassination” of former President Donald Trump after Secret Service agents fired at a man with an AK-47 rifle on or near Trump’s Palm Beach, Florida, golf course on Sunday.
A spokesperson for Donald Trump’s campaign said the former president is “safe.” Law enforcement sources told ABC News a suspect is in custody.
The incident comes around two months after Trump was shot in the ear at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Palm Beach County Sheriff Ric Bradshaw said the gunman got as close as 300 to 500 yards away from the former president when he was spotted and agents fired four to six rounds at him before he dropped the gun and fled. It was not clear if the suspect was aiming his weapon at Trump.
The source said the suspect got into a vehicle and witnesses reported the license plate number, which was tracked by authorities. The suspect was stopped and taken into custody.
Bradshaw said along with an “AK-47-style rifle,” two backpacks were found at the scene with a GoPro camera and ceramic tiles inside.
The sheriff said the golf course was not surrounded by law enforcement because Trump is not the sitting president. “If he was, we would have had this entire golf course surrounded. But because he’s not, security is limited to the areas that the Secret Service deems possible. So, I would imagine that the next time he comes to the golf course, there’ll probably be a little bit more people around the perimeter.”
But Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said he already had concerns about the Secret Service after the first assassination attempt against Trump and advocated moving the agency from under the Department of Homeland Security and back under the Treasury Department, “where it had more focus.”
A Republican who spoke with Trump shortly after the incident told ABC News that Trump said he was near the 5th hole of the Trump International golf course when he heard “popping sounds” in the vicinity. The source said Trump was in “good spirits.”
Sheriff Will Snyder of neighboring Martin County told ABC News that his units detained a man following the incident. Snyder said after the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department, the Secret Service and the FBI put out a “Be on the lookout for” alert, one of his officers saw the suspect vehicle northbound on Interstate 95 and other officers “forced it to a stop without incident.”
Snyder said the vehicle matched the description in the bulletin but “now we have to determine if this, in fact, was the right suspect.”
Shortly after the incident, Trump sent a fundraising email saying that he was safe and well and that no one was hurt.
“But, there are people in this world who will do whatever it takes to stop us,” he wrote.
In a follow-up fundraising email Sunday evening, Trump wrote, “My resolve is only stronger after another attempt on my life.”
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed on the “security incident at the Trump International Golf Course,” the White House said in a statement Sunday.
“They are relieved to know that he is safe. They will be kept regularly updated by their team,” the White House added.
After being briefed on the incident, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement, “There is no place in this country for political violence of any kind.”
“The perpetrator must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Schumer added.
(SIERRA VISTA, Ariz.) — On the same day Vice President Kamala Harris is set to give her formal acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, former President Donald Trump will be focusing on the topic he has criticized Harris for the most: immigration.
Trump will spend the day on Thursday at the U.S.-Mexico border in southern Arizona after spending the week hopping from one battleground state to another, focusing on policy-centered speeches in states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Both Trump and running mate JD Vance are engaging in counterprogramming to the DNC, which is taking place in Chicago this week.
With Harris formally the Democratic candidate and set to face Trump, the former president has zeroed in on criticizing Harris’ immigration policies, putting the blame squarely on her for the situation at the border as he latches on to his inaccurate reference to her as the “border czar.”
The label stems from President Joe Biden assigning Harris to oversee and lead diplomatic talks with Northern Triangle countries to address the root cause of migration. Republicans quickly focused on the assignment, dubbing her the “border czar” — though technically Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas is in charge of the border.
Harris has defended her work on the border, and her campaign has included in a tv ad that as president she would “hire thousands more border agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking.”
After touring the border, Trump is set to deliver his remarks right by the border wall he backed with a long stretch of the structure as his backdrop.
It’s a throwback to his campaign promise from his very first presidential campaign to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border — and an emphasis on his current campaign’s promise to finish the wall. His administration implemented roughly 450 miles of barriers, much of which was just upgrading existing barriers.
Border security and immigration has continued to be one of Trump’s main campaign issues this election. The former president has repeatedly pushed anti-immigrant rhetoric on the campaign trail, claiming immigrants in the country illegally are “poisoning the blood of our country” and that they are taking away Americans’ jobs.
His disparaging comments on immigrants living in the country without authorization have ramped up in recent months. Trump has described migrants crossing the border as violent criminals by highlighting stories about crimes committed by them, despite crime statistics analysis suggesting that U.S. citizens commit crimes at higher rates than unauthorized immigrants.
“Relative to undocumented immigrants, U.S.-born citizens are over 2 times more likely to be arrested for violent crimes, 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes, and over 4 times more likely to be arrested for property crimes,” according to a 2020 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
On Wednesday, Trump suggested that there were migrants in the country illegally at his campaign event in Asheboro, North Carolina.
“We probably have a few here. Welcome, welcome, but we probably have a few here, and [Harris is] all for it,” Trump quipped as the crowd responded by chanting, “Build that wall.”
Throughout the week, Trump has attempted to stay on message on key themes of the economy, crime and safety, and national security as allies and supporters push for Trump to focus on his potential second term agenda rather than spewing personal attacks.
Throughout his speeches this week, Trump has been criticizing DNC speakers, taking specific aim at former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama, calling Barack Obama’s tone “nasty.”
“Did you see Barack Hussein Obama last night? He was taking shots at your president. And so is Michelle. They always say, please stick to policy, don’t get personal. Yet they are getting personal all night long, these people. Do I still have to stick to policy?”
“I try and be nice to people, you know, but it’s a little tough when they get personal,” Trump lamented.