(VitalNews.org) – The United States Justice Department is preparing criminal charges for the Iranian hack that targeted Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
There aren’t many details on the criminal charges, but they’re a result of the FBI investigation that looked into multiple agencies and quickly linked them to an Iranian effort to influence American politics. The Justice Department has spoken out about the potential of countries trying to meddle in the United States presidential election.
There has been concern over Russia and Iran’s potential to try and sway the election in a specific direction. They’ve spoken out about social media posts designed to influence public opinion.
Matthew Olsen, the assistant attorney general and the Justice Department’s top national security official, said that Iran “is making a greater effort to influence this year’s election than it has in prior election cycles, and that Iranian activity is growing increasingly aggressive as this election nears.”
“Iran perceives this year’s elections to be particularly consequential in impacting Iran’s national security interests, increasing Tehran’s inclination to try to shape the outcome,” added Olsen.
In August, the Trump campaign stated that they had been hacked and said that Iranian hackers had stolen and distributed sensitive documents. Politico, the New York Times, and the Washington Post, said that they had received the leaked internal documents.
The source was from an AOL account named “Robert” which leaked a research dossier that was done on JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the FBI, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency all blamed the hack on Iran.
It’s not said whether Iran has a preferred candidate, but Tehran has been looking to seek retaliation for the strike that Trump ordered during his time as president that killed an Iranian general.
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