ARGUMENT: ELECTION INTERFERENCEThe Hacking of the Trump Campaign Is 2016 All Over Again
Hackers affiliated with the intelligence service of a foreign county hack the campaign of a candidate for the U.S. presidency, scoop damaging material, and disseminate it to reporters. This describes both the 2016 hacking of the Clinton campaign by Russian hackers, and the 2024 hacking of the Trump campaign by Iranian hackers. But there are differences: In 2016, “The press seized on the hacked emails,” Quinta Jurecic writes, “and the Trump campaign capitalized exuberantly on Russia’s involvement in the election.” Trump called on Russia to do even more. Now, the press has behaved more responsibly, and “Kamala Harris has not yet weighed in on the campaign trail with any winking suggestions that Iran might want to continue rummaging around in the Trump campaign’s systems.”
Hackers affiliated with the intelligence service of a foreign county hack the campaign of a candidate for the U.S. presidency, scoop damaging material about the inner working of the campaign, then, using a fake identity, they reach out to reporters whom they think might be interested in what they have to share.
Quinta Jurecic writes in Lawfare that the sentences above describe the hacking of the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2016 by Russian government hackers and their effort to disseminate what they found. But they also a describe the hacking the Trump 2024 campaign by Iran government hackers, and their efforts to disseminate what they found.
But there are differences, too.
“The press seized on the hacked emails after Russian military intelligence, known as the GRU, distributed them through WikiLeaks, and the Trump campaign capitalized exuberantly on Russia’s involvement in the election,”Jurecic writes. “This time, reporters have held back from publishing the leaked information. And, of course, Vice President Kamala Harris has not yet weighed in on the campaign trail with any winking suggestions that Iran might want to continue rummaging around in the Trump campaign’s systems.”
“We were just informed by Microsoft Corporation that one of our many websites was hacked by the Iranian Government,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “Never a nice thing to do!”
Jurecic writes:
There is an obvious irony here, given the glee with which Trump’s 2016 campaign—and Trump specifically—greeted Russia’s interference in that election. After materials stolen from the Democratic Party and the Clinton campaign were made public, Trump harped extensively on the information they contained in order to attack Clinton. Indeed, as the Mueller report recounts, the campaign’s openness to relying on Russian help went well beyond simply citing documents already available in the public domain.
In June 2016, after being informed that the Russian government was willing to provide the Trump campaign with damaging information on Clinton, Donald Trump Jr. replied enthusiastically over email. In July, Trump famously invited the Russian government to hack Clinton’s email, declaring: “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing. I think you will probably be rewarded mightily by our press.” Later that same day, the GRU attempted to hack into accounts linked to Clinton’s personal office.
