Open Thread on Sunday Morning: TFG Campaign Claims to Be Hacked

NEWS: Trump campaign says it was hacked

The admission came after POLITICO began receiving emails from an anonymous account containing documents from inside Trump’s operation, including a dossier on J.D. Vancehttps://t.co/Cqh1TJWPl0

— Alex Isenstadt (@politicoalex) August 10, 2024

If it really happened – I’m agnostic, given the Trump campaign’s standard of veracity – my bet would be split between a disgruntled staffer looking to burnish his resume in preparation for an expected November firing, and some desperately jealous types within the Mar-A-Largo mafia hoping for a Look at the violence inherent in the system! sympathy bump. Which they might get from the snooping members of Our Failed Serious Media… but not so much, I think, from the rest of us.



And just in time for the Sunday shows!…

The campaign suggests Iran is to blame. POLITICO has not independently verified the identity of the hacker or their motivations https://t.co/Cqh1TJWPl0

— Alex Isenstadt (@politicoalex) August 10, 2024

The Washington Post‘s more skeptical report – “Trump campaign says victim of foreign hack after Vance report leak” (gift link):

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign said Saturday that it had been the victim of a foreign hack after the campaign received questions from news organizations about a lengthy screening document on vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) that had been sent to the media.

“These documents were illegally obtained from foreign sources hostile to the United States with the aim of influencing the 2024 elections and sowing chaos in our democratic process,” Steven Cheung, a campaign spokesman, said in a statement.

Cheung was referring to a report released by Microsoft on Friday in which the company said it had found evidence that Iranian hackers had attempted to break into the email account of a “senior official” of a US presidential campaign in June.

The company has not publicly identified the campaign or confirmed whether it believed the hack was successful. A person familiar with Microsoft’s work confirmed that the report referred to the Trump campaign…

People familiar with the matter said the campaign separately concluded earlier this summer that its email system had been hacked but had not reported it publicly or to law enforcement. The people said some officials were told to take more protective measures on their email accounts. At the time, campaign officials told others they were unsure who had hacked the emails. The people spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the internal matter.

Also on Thursday, The Washington Post obtained a 271-page document about Vance from a sender identifying himself as Robert and using an AOL email account. The document, dated Feb. 23 and labeled “privileged and confidential,” highlighted potential political vulnerabilities for the senator in his first term. Two people familiar with the document confirmed it was authentic and had been prepared for the campaign by Brand Woodward, a law firm that represents several prominent Trump advisers in state and federal investigations.

The document is based on publicly available information, including previous news reports and interviews with the senator. The campaign also commissioned several reports from other candidates, the advisers said…

When the media decided to report on Hillary and the DNC hacks, it wasn’t done with a sober consideration of the public interest. It was a gleeful spectacle for many in the industry. Now compare that to the “very serious situation” of Trump getting hacked, and, well…

– ??Dante Atkins?? (@DanteAtkins) August 10, 2024

So why isn’t POLITICO publishing these documents in full? Political reporters tweeted screenshots of emails from John Podesta’s account and the DNC. https://t.co/qNco8fHoRs photo.twitter.com/JymjGpO46r

— Matt Ortega (@MattOrtega) August 10, 2024

This is crucial. If the Times et al intend to treat hacked Trump emails differently than hacked Clinton emails, fine. But then they owe the public a detailed mea culpa for their behavior in 2016, including transparency about how and when they decided they were wrong. https://t.co/CHygn85qVE

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) August 11, 2024

Not many people know this, but Politico was sold to a right-wing billionaire from Uber, who previously asked his executives to pray for a Trump victory.

The hackers clearly chose a friendly publication to send their hacked information to. photo.twitter.com/Hor0BEaZIq

— KerrBeer (@MPLSKerrBear) August 10, 2024

That’s why no one with any sense believes this is real.

A malicious hacker would not leak truly damaging information to a magazine whose owner has instructed his employees to pray for Trump’s re-election in 2020.

— Phoenix Woman (@PhoenixWomanMN) August 10, 2024

So Politico has had a dossier on JD Vance since late July and has not published it…

Would they do the same if it were a dossier on a Democratic candidate? photo.twitter.com/pPtGRfdDfG

— Qondi (@QondiNtini) August 10, 2024

It’s just the total donation amount from Peter Thiel

— The Keystone Take (@KeystoneTake) August 10, 2024

The two most important stories on their website

Don’t publish dirt vs No dirt just gossip photo.twitter.com/pUXMp0b17r

— Qondi (@QondiNtini) August 10, 2024

Never forget…. https://t.co/j2BWvQTKbM photo.twitter.com/pBqxfN0LsP

— Maudi63 (@maudi63) August 10, 2024

That wasn’t an exaggeration like they were tweeting something to create stochastic threats. Jack Posobiec hired a bunch of Atomwaffen fans with ties to Richard Spencer and the Pittsburgh shooter to form his DC film crew. https://t.co/id0lZWa4TN

— zeddy (@Zeddary) August 11, 2024

I’ll leave this here https://t.co/U6m4l69CE3 photo.twitter.com/7KKljBoXnj

— Mike Gehrke (@mikegehrke) August 10, 2024

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