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The September 12, 2024, Associated Press report said the Justice Department was preparing criminal charges over a hack targeting Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, citing two people familiar with the matter who spoke anonymously. Charges had not yet been announced. On September 27, the Justice Department announced that three Iranian nationals had been indicted. The indictment lays out prosecutors’ allegations; it is not a finding of guilt.
What AP reported—and what it did not establish
AP reported that the expected charges stemmed from an FBI investigation into an intrusion that investigators across multiple agencies linked to an Iranian effort to influence U.S. politics. The two sources were not authorized to discuss a case that had not been unsealed. AP said it was unclear when charges might be announced or whom they would target. AP’s September 12 report, published by Yahoo News, was therefore a report about anticipated charges, not an announcement of filed charges or a public identification of defendants.
AP said Trump’s campaign disclosed on August 10 that it had been hacked and that Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents. The story reported that Politico, The New York Times, and The Washington Post received confidential campaign material, but those outlets had not disclosed details of what they received at that time.
AP also described Politico’s account that it began receiving emails on July 22 from an anonymous sender using the name “Robert.” The emails reportedly contained what appeared to be campaign research on JD Vance, dated February 23, before Trump chose Vance as his running mate. This is AP’s account of Politico’s reporting; it does not establish that AP independently examined the material.
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What changed on September 27
The Justice Department announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri, and Yaser Balaghi, Iranian nationals whom DOJ described as employees of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The charges were a formal development after AP’s report, but the allegations still must be proved in court. The DOJ announcement and the U.S. Attorney’s Office announcement state that defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The indictment alleges the three defendants participated in a broad hacking conspiracy targeting accounts belonging to current and former U.S. officials, media members, nongovernmental organizations, and people associated with political campaigns. Prosecutors describe an alleged operation that began around January 2020 and continued through at least September 2024, using spearphishing and social engineering to target and compromise accounts. These are allegations in the charging document, not adjudicated findings. The indictment sets out prosecutors’ account of the alleged conduct.
FBI Director Christopher Wray called the charges the culmination of a “thorough and long-running FBI investigation.” That is the FBI director’s characterization of the government’s case, not a judicial conclusion. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said the department was working to counter Iranian cyberattacks that he said sought to stoke discord, undermine confidence in democratic institutions, and influence elections.
How U.S. agencies described the attempted distribution
A September 18 joint statement by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, FBI, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency said that in late June and early July, Iranian malicious cyber actors sent unsolicited emails to people then associated with President Biden’s campaign. According to the statement, quoted in DOJ’s announcement, the emails included an excerpt from stolen, non-public material from Trump’s campaign. DOJ presented this as part of the alleged hack-and-leak operation; it does not by itself establish that Biden campaign associates used or acted on the material.
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Key dates in the case
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| July 22, 2024 | Politico said it began receiving emails from the anonymous “Robert” account, according to AP. |
| August 10, 2024 | Trump’s campaign publicly disclosed that it had been hacked, according to AP. |
| September 12, 2024 | AP reported, based on two unnamed sources, that DOJ was preparing criminal charges. |
| September 18, 2024 | A joint ODNI, FBI, and CISA statement described emails sent to Biden campaign associates containing an excerpt of stolen Trump campaign material; DOJ quoted it in its later announcement. |
| September 27, 2024 | DOJ announced the unsealing of an indictment charging three Iranian nationals. |
How to read the claims accurately
- AP’s September 12 report: attributed an expectation of charges to two anonymous sources and did not identify defendants or provide a filing date.
- DOJ’s September 27 announcement: confirmed that an indictment had been unsealed and named three defendants.
- The indictment: states prosecutors’ allegations about the alleged hacking campaign and hack-and-leak activity. A charge is not proof of guilt.
Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen said on September 12 that Iran was making a greater effort to influence the election than in prior cycles and that Iranian activity was becoming more aggressive as the election neared. This was his qualitative assessment, not a quantified measure of the incident’s scale or impact.
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