Hackers threaten to release emails stolen from Trump campaign aides

01 July

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and White House Chief of Staff Susan Wiles arrive to attend the G7 Leaders' Summit at the Rocky Mountain resort town of Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, June 15, 2025. REUTERS/Chris Helgren/Pool

The Daily Beast reports an Iranian-linked hacking group is threatening to sell emails it stole from President Donald Trump’s inner campaign circle.

The hackers, who use the pseudonym “Robert,” told Reuters they had about 100 gigabytes of emails downloaded from the accounts of White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan, longtime Trump ally and political consultant Roger Stone, and Stormy Daniels, the adult film star Trump paid to keep quiet about an alleged affair ahead of the 2016 election.

Marci McCarthy, director of public affairs at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), acknowledged on X that a “hostile” foreign adversary was threatening to “illegally exploit purportedly stolen and unverified material in an effort to distract, discredit, and divide.”

Reuters authenticated some emails obtained by the hacking group in the final months of the 2024 campaign, which included settlement negotiations between Trump and Daniels and details of a financial arrangement between Trump and attorneys representing former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is now Trump’s health secretary.

“This so-called cyber ‘attack’ is nothing more than digital propaganda, and the targets are no coincidence,” said McCarthy on X. “This is a calculated smear campaign meant to damage President Trump and discredit honorable public servants who serve our country with distinction.”

McCarthy added that “these criminals will be found and they will be brought to justice. Let this be a warning to others: there will be no refuge, tolerance, or leniency for these actions.”

Prosecuting ransomware crimes outside of U.S. jurisdiction is notoriously difficult and usually requires the resident government to join U.S. agents in building cases and arrests. Recent U.S. bombings in Iran have likely strained relations between the two nations, and the Justice Department alleged in last September that Iran’s Revolutionary Guards were behind the Robert hacking group.

FBI Director Kash Patel threatened “anyone associated with any kind of breach of national security” with investigation and prosecution “to the fullest extent of the law.”

Read the full Daily Beast report at this link.

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