Trump Campaign’s Leaked Confidential Material Was Rejected by News Outlets to Be Printed, Here’s Why

Secret documents from the Donald Trump campaign, including a study that evaluated JD Vance for the vice presidential nomination, were leaked to at least three news organizations. As per the Associated Press, the outlets in question include Politico, The Washington Post, and The New York Times. So far, they have all been quite vague when asked to describe what they got, refusing to provide any specifics.

According to a story published on Saturday by Politico, the material pertains to emails leaked by an individual claiming to be 'Robert' on July 22nd. The leaker has subsequently sent a 271-page vetting document regarding Republican Senator Vance of Ohio and a shorter vetting report regarding Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. After receiving comparable emails, the Post and the Times both verified the authenticity of the contents.

According to the New York Times, Vance's previous comments of doubt on Trump were only one example of the unflattering or negative words that were part of the vetting materials. Additionally, The Trump team claimed hacking had taken place, blaming Iran for the intrusion, only hours after Politico said it had obtained the files. Over the weekend, Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, issued a statement in which he urged the media to withhold publication of any data related to the breach. 

Cheung told NBC News, "The Iranians know that President Trump will stop their reign of terror just like he did in his first four years in the White House. Any media or news outlet reprinting documents or internal communications is doing the bidding of America’s enemies and doing exactly what they want. On Friday, a new report from Microsoft found that Iranian hackers broke into the account of a ‘high ranking official’ on the U.S. presidential campaign in June 2024, which coincides with the close timing of President Trump’s selection of a vice presidential nominee."

As per the Microsoft report that Cheung referenced, 'another Iranian group, this one connected with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' was suspected of using the stolen email account of a former senior adviser to send a phishing email in June to a high-ranking official on a presidential campaign.' The report further stated, "The email contained a link that would direct traffic through a domain controlled by the group before routing to the website of the provided link… within days of this activity, the same group unsuccessfully attempted to log into an account belonging to a former presidential candidate."

So far, this is nothing new for Trump. In 2020, someone managed to get into his X account by guessing his password, which was "maga2020!" As reported by Vox, the public prosecutor's office in the Netherlands said at the time, "We believe the hacker has actually penetrated Trump’s Twitter account but has met the criteria that have been developed in case law to go free as an ethical hacker."