In Washington, reports indicate that malicious hackers, likely operating from Iran, have persistently attempted to leak data sourced from Donald Trump’s campaign, as stated by a journalist who claims to have obtained internal documents on Tuesday.

Journalist Judd Legum shared in his Popular Information newsletter that he received a collection of emailed documents on September 18 from an anonymous sender using the name “Robert,” which included confidential files and emails from the Trump campaign.

One document, dated September 15, suggested that the hacking effort persisted even after the initial reports by the Trump campaign and various news organizations earlier this year.

“Robert” did not provide any identification beyond implying he was the same “Robert” who had previously leaked internal Trump campaign materials to Politico, the New York Times, and the Washington Post in the summer months, Legum reported.

Legum, whose emails were hacked by Russia and later published by Wikileaks during Clinton’s campaign in 2016, stated that he won’t be publishing the Trump documents but provided insights on how he interacted with the “Robert” figure.

The first communication from “Robert” included the cover sheet of a dossier prepared on Ohio Senator JD Vance prior to Trump choosing Vance as his running mate.

The alleged intermediary later delivered to Legum a 271-page dossier on Vance, along with similar reports on two other potential running mates for Trump: a 382-page document on North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and a 550-page file on Florida Senator Marco Rubio, all marked “Privileged & Confidential.”

Legum stated that “Robert” claimed to possess “a lot” of additional materials from Trump’s campaign, including emails exchanged with key campaign staff, such as senior advisors Susie Wiles and Dan Scavino, as well as pollster John McLaughlin, spanning from October 2023 to August 2024.

Legum affirmed he does not plan on publishing these materials and refrained from discussing their content.

A Letter from Trump to the New York Times

“Robert” also forwarded a four-page letter, dated September 15, 2024, allegedly from an attorney for Trump addressing the New York Times regarding a report that scrutinized the former president’s business skills.

Charlie Stadtlander, a spokesman for the Times, verified that the legal letter Legum received from the suspected hacker matched one that had been sent from Trump’s representatives to the newspaper.

The fact that this letter was not previously published demonstrates that “the person or people claiming to be Robert has pilfered electronic communications from Trump campaign associates within the last ten days,” Legum noted on Tuesday.

In response, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung had no additional comments but reiterated that “the terror regime in Iran” is intimidated by Trump’s “strength and resolve.”

Iranian Hackers Target Trump

In August, both Cheung and Trump stated that Iran had hacked the campaign and disseminated documents to media outlets in retaliation for Trump’s actions during his presidency, notably the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, a general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

At the end of that month, U.S. intelligence confirmed that Iran orchestrated the hacking attempt and a similar attempt on the Biden-Harris campaign before President Biden exited the race.

Recently, the FBI and other federal agencies reported that Iranian hackers had sent unsolicited information obtained from Trump’s campaign to individuals affiliated with Biden’s campaign, which they did not respond to.

“The key takeaway here is that malicious cyber actors keep operating even after their activities are exposed,” explained Brandon Wales, who served as the executive director of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency until recently.

“Be it Iran, China, Russia, or other nations, they will continue to take advantage of existing access points and seek new ones,” Wales told YSL News. “It’s unsurprising that Iranian involvement in the campaign persists even after it was made public.”

Additionally, U.S. intelligence officials revealed on Monday that Russian efforts to interfere with the elections are also escalating, particularly concentrating on undermining Vice President Kamala Harris to aid in Trump’s election.