In July 2016, At the time, candidate Donald Trump called on the Russian government to hack the emails of his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton. It wasn’t long before the scandal of Russian election interference dominated headlines for much of the campaign and Trump’s presidency. Trump has since claimed that his public call—for the Russians to “find the 30,000 emails” so “our press” could have a big day—was something of a joke.
But in the intervening years, the former and possibly future leader of the free world has provided ample evidence that he was not kidding at all. In a 2019 interview with ABC, the then-president flatly stated, “I think I would take it,” when asked if he would accept damaging information about a political opponent offered to him by a foreign power. Trump added only that he would “probably go to the FBI” if he thought “something was wrong.”
Today, the tables have turned, with Trump and his campaign now the victims of an alleged foreign hack and leak during the most crucial months of the US presidential election. And this time, Russia does not appear to be to blame. Instead, Trump’s team is pointing the finger at Iran; Rolling Stone This claim has not yet been independently verified. The FBI is investigating the alleged hack.
The Trump team has been scrambling to assess the extent of the damage, and how the apparent hack might affect different parts of the Trump elite, not just campaign staff, according to two people familiar with the matter. “It’s very scary,” said one source close to Trump, who has been in contact with campaign officials in recent days about the alleged hack. Rolling Stone.
Trump campaign spokesman Stephen Cheung claimed in a statement that Iran was responsible for hacking the internal communications of a senior campaign staffer. No media outlet has yet published any of the leaked documents, and Cheung has preemptively criticized any journalist who dares to report them.
“Any media or news outlet that republishes internal documents or communications is doing exactly what America's enemies want,” he said.
This is a radical departure from 2016, when Trump publicly called on Russia to hack and release Clinton’s emails. “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find those 30,000 emails that are missing,” Trump said at a news conference. “I think our press will probably reward you handsomely.”
Russians were said to have targeted Clinton’s campaign and personal office on or around that day. Trump has claimed that the source of the material used by the Clinton campaign shouldn’t matter—the content is more important. In October 2016, Trump complained that the hacked emails released by WikiLeaks were not getting enough coverage from reporters. “The amazing information provided by WikiLeaks is not getting enough attention from the dishonest media,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment Monday asking whether the former president still believes it is acceptable for media outlets and political candidates to cover up and highlight internal documents or campaign communications if they are hacked.
News of the hack comes as Trump is mired in the final two and a half months of his 2024 campaign to reclaim the White House. It’s a remarkably high-stakes election for the American public — and for Trump personally. The outcome of the race between him and Vice President Kamala Harris will determine not only whether Trump gets a chance to implement his increasingly authoritarian vision for the country. Election Day in November could determine whether Trump faces an actual prison sentence.
In this environment, a foreign actor, allegedly the Iranian government, is trying to undermine Trump’s electoral chances of returning to power. Iranian officials remain angry at Trump, among other things, for blowing up Qassem Soleimani, and have wanted revenge for years.
Whatever the outcome of this alleged Iranian attack on the Trump team’s private communications, it will come amid years of mockery and public bragging by the Democratic elite about being hacked by Russian hackers.
For example, in December 2016, veterans of the Trump and Hillary Clinton campaigns gathered at Harvard University to give a first-draft-of-history presentation to the assembled crowd and journalists. With the wounds of 2016 still fresh, the event quickly devolved into a chaotic exchange of accusations, insults, and hurt feelings. At one point, when the issue of Russian election interference, designed to help Trump win, came up, Trump aide Brad Parscale told the group of Clinton campaign officials that there was such a thing as two-factor authentication for email accounts…and maybe Democrats should try it.
Years later, in the lobby of the then-Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C. — a short walk from the White House — this reporter spoke with Parscale about what he had told Clinton’s top staff. He smiled, recalled that it was “funny,” and briefly enjoyed Trump’s mockery of his political enemies.
Things are different now.
