The potential charges come at a time when the Justice Department is warning of increased foreign efforts to meddle in the U.S. presidential election
The FBI is reportedly close to announcing criminal charges related to an investigation into a cyber intrusion linked to an Iranian attempt to interfere in U.S. politics. While it remains unclear when the charges will be announced or who will be targeted, the investigation involves multiple agencies that quickly traced the intrusion to Iran.
The potential charges come at a time when the Justice Department is warning of increased foreign efforts to meddle in the U.S. presidential election between former President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris. Countries such as Russia and Iran have been accused of trying to influence public opinion through hacking and covert social media campaigns.
“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,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen, the Justice Department’s top national security official, in a speech on Thursday. He added that Tehran views the election as particularly important to its national security interests, which has heightened its motivation to shape the outcome.
The Trump campaign revealed on August 10 that it had been hacked, alleging that Iranian actors stole and distributed sensitive internal documents. Media outlets such as Politico, The New York Times, and The Washington Post were reportedly leaked confidential materials, though they have not disclosed the details of what they received.
Politico reported that it began receiving emails on July 22 from an anonymous AOL account identified as “Robert.” The emails included what appeared to be a research dossier on Ohio Senator JD Vance, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, which was dated February 23—months before Trump selected Vance as his running mate.
The FBI, along with the Director of National Intelligence and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, later confirmed that Iran was responsible for both the Trump campaign hack and an attempted breach of the Biden-Harris campaign. These agencies said the goal of such activities was to sow discord, exploit divisions in American society, and influence the election outcome.
While the statement from U.S. agencies did not specify if Iran had a preferred candidate in the election, tensions between Washington and Tehran have been high, especially following a 2020 U.S. strike ordered by Trump that killed an Iranian general.
Two sources, speaking anonymously to The Associated Press, confirmed that criminal charges are in the works but declined to provide further details as the case has not yet been made public. The Washington Post was the first to report on the potential charges.
In contrast to the 2016 election, when the Obama administration took a more cautious approach to calling out foreign interference, the Justice Department is now taking a more proactive stance in countering such efforts.
