US charges 3 Iranians over hack of Trump campaign emails

The Justice Department unsealed an indictment Friday charging three Iranians over their alleged involvement in the hack of emails from former President Donald Trump's campaign.

The three men named in the indictment -- Masoud Jalili, Seyyed Ali Aghamiri and Yasar Balaghi -- are accused of targeting the accounts of individuals associated with the Trump campaign and attempting to send the hacked information to people they believed were associated with the Biden campaign, none of whom responded to the outreach efforts.

The indictment charges the men with a series of crimes ranging from computer hacking charges, material support to a foreign terrorist organization, identity theft and aiding and abetting.

Prosecutors say the three men were all employed by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and engaged in a "wide-ranging hacking campaign" that used spear-phishing and other digital hacking techniques to compromise targets that included current and former U.S. government officials, members of the media, NGOs and "individuals associated with U.S. political campaigns."

"Such activity is part of Iran's continuing efforts to stoke discord, erode confidence in the U.S. electoral process, and unlawfully acquire information relating to current and former U.S. officials that could be used to advance the malign activities of the IRGC, including ongoing efforts to avenge the death of Qasem Soleimani," the indictment says.

The indictment notes that beginning in May of this year, the three Iranians began successfully targeting and compromising the accounts of individuals associated with the Trump campaign. The following month, after obtaining non-public campaign documents and emails, the three attempted to engage in a "hack and leak" operation to spread the info to members of the media and individuals they believed were associated with the then-Biden campaign.

The indictment singles out multiple victims associated with or who the hackers believed were close to Trump's campaign - though not by name. One is described as a former, informal political consultant to Trump's campaign. Others included an official on the campaign whose personal email account was successfully compromised, an attorney representing Trump's campaign whose account was also compromised, and another who is described as an "attempted victim" working for Trump's campaign.

Another individual identified as "U.S. Victim 14" was described as a former State Department official advising a presidential campaign "that was suspended prior to May 2024."

The hack included internal documents used to vet Trump's potential running mate, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

The indictment further details the Iranian hackers' outreach to two different individuals they believed were associated with the then-Biden campaign around June 27, which they said were intended to help Biden in advance of his first debate against Trump. They did not receive responses back in that effort. On June 27, the hackers then again attempted to send the email chain to two other personal email accounts belonging to a third person they believed was associated with Biden's campaign.

The separate user again did not reply to that email. The indictment then goes on to detail the hackers' alleged outreach to various reporters with the information that has been the subject of public reporting.

Officials for the Trump campaign and Harris campaign have not yet commented.