The Justice Department is expected to soon announce criminal charges against the Iranian government-backed hackers who carried out a hack-and-leak operation targeting former President Donald Trump’s campaign, four sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
The criminal charges against the Iranian hackers could be unveiled as soon as next week, two of the sources said.
The Iranian hackers stole internal Trump campaign documents and shared them with news organizations in an attempt to sow discord during the presidential election, according to US officials. The hackers breached the email account of longtime Trump ally Roger Stone to target campaign staff in June, CNN has reported. US officials believe the hackers work for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
CNN has requested comment from the Justice Department on the pending move against the hackers.
The expected US prosecution, which was first reported by The Washington Post, is part of a full-fledged US government effort to expose covert foreign influence activities aimed at the 2024 election cycle before they can have an impact on voters. US officials last week announced charges against employees of Russian state media outlet RT accused of secretly funding a media company that amplified right-wing American influencers.
In a speech at Columbia Law School Thursday, the Justice Department’s top national security official, Matthew Olsen, warned of an “onslaught” by authoritarian regimes trying to influence the upcoming election.
“Right now, our adversaries are actively taking steps to covertly influence our elections and undermine our democracy,” Olsen said. “Authoritarian regimes — including Russian, Iran and China — are determined to warp the views of the electorate in advance of upcoming elections in ways that they believe will serve their own interests and weaken the United States.”
US officials were largely caught flat-footed in reacting to Russian influence operations aimed at the 2016 election and were slow to publicly expose the activity. Some of the same US officials are trying to avoid making that mistake this year.
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