US elections 2024: Iran, Kamala Harris ‘spying’ on Donald Trump’s campaign? What we know so far

Donald Trump, the former US President and Republican candidate, claimed earlier this week that his rival Kamala Harris and her campaign "were illegally spying" on him. In an all-caps Truth Social post on Wednesday, "The FBI caught Iran spying on my campaign and giving all of the information to the Kamala Harris campaign."

'Iran tried to send hacked files'

Trump's statement came after the FBI said that Iran had tried to provide Democrats with material “stolen” from Donald Trump’s campaign. "Hackers" linked to Iran were accused of hacking the Trump campaign and attempting to spread internal communications they pilfered.

The hackers allegedly sought access to the Democratic presidential campaign, but there's no indication those efforts were successful," the Associated Press reported on Thursday.

As per the report, several media organisations said last month they received "stolen" information but declined to publish it. Politico, for instance, reported that it began receiving emails in July from an anonymous AOL account identified only as “Robert” that passed along what appeared to be a research dossier the campaign had apparently done on the Republican vice presidential nominee, Ohio Sen. JD Vance.

Now, the intelligence officials disclosed that a few people connected to President Joe Biden's reelection effort received unsolicited emails in late June and early July. This was before Biden dropped out of the race. It contained an excerpt “taken from stolen, non-public material” from the Trump campaign.

How Democrats responded to 'stolen filed'

Initial reports indicated that Biden's staff never responded to those emails and may not have even opened them because they appeared to be phishing attempts, sources told NBC tweet.

Morgan Finkelstein, a spokeswoman for Democrat Kamala Harris' campaign, was quoted by the Associated press as saying that the material was not sent directly to the campaign but rather to just a few people associated with the campaign and that the emails looked like a phishing attempt or spam.

She said the campaign has cooperated with law enforcement ever since being made aware that Biden associates were “among the intended victims of this foreign influence operation.”

“We condemn in the strongest terms any effort by foreign actors to interfere in US elections including this unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity,” she said.

Donald Trump's claim

The former US president posted on social media, “Wow, just out! The FBI caught Iran spying on my campaign, and giving all of the information to the Kamala Harris campaign.”

He said, "Therefore, she and her campaign were illegally spying on me. To be known as the Iran, Iran, Iran case!" He asked, "Will Kamala resign in disgrace from politics? Will the communist left pick a new candidate to replace her?"

How Iran reacted to claims?

Iran denied the accusations, according to NBC news. Its ambassador to the United Nations called these allegations “entirely baseless, lacking any credibility and legitimacy” and “in no way acceptable,” the semi-official Fars news agency reported Thursday. 

Meanwhile, UN envoy Ali Bahreini said that Tehran “has no motivation or intention to interfere in US elections” and called on the US to provide its evidence so Iran could respond fully, NBC reported.