Hackers Related To Iran Threaten To Leak The Emails Of President Trump's Staff

Illustration. (Unsplash/Kevin Ku)

JAKARTA - Iranian-linked hackers threatened to leak more stolen emails from the circle of United States President Donald Trump, having previously distributed a number of emails to the media ahead of the 2024 US general election.

In an online chat with Reuters on Sundays and Monday, hackers using pseudonyms Robert said his party had about 100 gigabytes of email from the account of White House Chief of Staffmanfaat Wiles, Trump lawyer Lindsey Halligan, Trump adviser Roger Stone, and porn film star Stormy Daniels over Trump's bribery case.

Robert put forward the possibility to sell the material but did not provide details of their plans. The hackers did not explain the contents of the email, quoted from Reuters July 1.

Halligan, Stone, representatives of Daniels and US cyber defense agency CISA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The White House and the FBI responded with a statement from FBI Director Kash Patel, who said: "Anyone associated with any kind of national security breach will be thoroughly investigated and prosecuted according to applicable law."

Meanwhile, Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately reply to a message seeking comment. Tehran previously denied conducting cyber espionage.

Robert appeared in the final months of the 2024 presidential campaign, when they claimed to have broken into the email accounts of several of President Trump's allies, including Wiles.

Hackers then distributed emails to journalists. Reuters previously authenticated some leaked material, including emails that appeared to document financial arrangements between Trump and a lawyer representing former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. who is now the minister of health.

Other materials include Trump's campaign communications on Republican candidates and discussions on settlement negotiations with Daniels.

Although the leaked document received some coverage last year, the document did not change the presidential election fundamentally, which Trump won.

The US Department of Justice in the September 2024 indictment accused the Iranian Revolutionary Guards of carrying out a hacking operation by Robert. In a conversation with Reuters, hackers refused to respond to the allegations.

After the election, Robert told Reuters there was no further planned leak. Recently in May, hackers told Reuters, "I'm retired, friend."

However, the group continued communication after a 12-day air war this month between Israel and Iran, which ended with the US bombing of Iran's nuclear site.

In a message this week, Robert said they were managing the sale of stolen emails and wanted Reuters to "reduce this issue."

Separately, American Enterprise Institute expert Frederick Kagan, who has written about Iran's cyber espionage, said Tehran was seriously damaged in the conflict and its spies were likely trying to retaliate in a way that did not attract more US or Israeli actions.

"The general explanation is that everyone is ordered to use all the asymmetric things they can that are unlikely to trigger the resumption of major military activities in Israel and the US," he said.

" Leaking more emails is impossible to do," he continued.

Despite Tehran's concerns that it could release digital catastrophe, Iranian hackers were calm during the conflict.

US cyber officials warned on Monday that American companies and critical infrastructure operators may still be targeted by Tehran.