Iranian Hackers Allegedly Leak Trump Campaign’s 271-Page Dossier on JD Vance’s Weaknesses
The Trump campaign has claimed that a massive leak of internal documents, including a detailed 271-page file on Senator J.D. Vance’s (R-OH) potential vulnerabilities, may have been orchestrated by Iranian hackers. While these claims have yet to be confirmed, the leaked information has raised significant concerns within the campaign.
Politico, the outlet that received the leaked communications, reported that the documents were sent by an anonymous source claiming to have obtained them through hacking. The Trump campaign confirmed the authenticity of the communications on Saturday, attributing the leak to foreign entities hostile to the United States. According to campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung, these documents were obtained illegally with the intent to disrupt the 2024 election and create chaos within the American democratic process.
Supporting this claim, a recent report from Microsoft indicated that Iranian hackers had compromised the email account of a high-ranking official within the Trump campaign in June 2024. This hacking incident reportedly coincided with the period when President Trump was in the process of selecting his vice-presidential running mate.
The Microsoft report further detailed that another Iranian group, believed to be connected to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), attempted a spear phishing attack on a senior official in a presidential campaign. The phishing email, sent from the compromised account of a former senior advisor, contained a malicious link designed to reroute traffic through a domain controlled by the hackers.
Politico revealed that it began receiving emails on July 22 from an AOL account under the alias “Robert.” These emails included internal communications from the Trump campaign, with one email containing the extensive 271-page dossier on J.D. Vance titled “POTENTIAL VULNERABILITIES.” When questioned about the source of the documents, “Robert” advised Politico not to investigate further, suggesting that such inquiries could legally jeopardize the publication of the information.
This incident is not the first time Trump has been targeted by hackers. In 2020, his social media account was compromised when a hacker guessed his password, “maga2020!” Moreover, Trump has allegedly been the target of an Iranian assassination plot, leading to charges against a Pakistani man with ties to the Islamic Republic by the Department of Justice.
#Election2024 #CyberSecurity #Hacking #IranianHackers #TrumpCampaign #JDVance #PoliticalLeaks #ForeignInterference #CyberThreats #USPolitics
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I've got 2 brain cells left and it's these two 🫠🤣
#meme #cartoon #funny follow for more 😉 Read More...
China to raise defense spending by 7.2% in 2025 to ‘firmly safeguard’ national security
China on Wednesday increased its defense spending by 7.2% this year, the same growth rate as in the prior two years, as Beijing seeks to “firmly safeguard” its national security.
In an official government report due to be released in parliament, China proposed a national defense budget of 1.78 trillion yuan ($244.99 billion) for the 2025 fiscal year.
The increased defense budget, well above China’s economic growth target for this year of roughly 5%, comes as Western governments seek to ratchet up military spending to bolster their own security.
The European Union announced Tuesday that it could mobilize as much as 800 billion euros ($841 billion) to shore up support for Ukraine amid Russia’s full-scale invasion. The move followed reports that the U.S. had abruptly paused military aid to Ukraine.
China budgeted a 7.2% increase in defense spending to 1.67 trillion yuan last year, the same growth rate as in the prior year. Beijing had increased spending by 7.1% in 2022 and 6.8% in 2021, according to official data.
When asked on Tuesday about China’s defense spending, Lou Qinjian, spokesperson for the third session of the 14th National People’s Congress, told reporters that “peace needs to be safeguarded with strength.”
That’s according to an official translation of his Mandarin-language remarks.
China’s defense expenditure as share of GDP has been held under 1.5% for many years, Lou said, adding that this rate of spending is lower than the global average.
China remains the world’s second largest military spender behind the U.S. which has set the military budget for 2025 at $850 billion.
Separately, expenditures earmarked for public security this year was raised by 7.3%, the official statement showed, a sharp increase compared with the 1.4% rise last year.
#China #Asia #CNBC #News
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Europeans looking at US tech right now
Not only Europe, but I believe much of the civilized world... Read More...
Which state(s) could Kamala and Walz *realistically* try to win that she and Biden did not win in 2020 (flip from red to blue)?
#USElections
I was looking at the 2020 presidential election results the other day on Wikipedia, and based on the states that were won by a narrow margin by either candidate, most were won by Biden.
However, Trump won North Carolina by 1.35% (74,483 votes), which seems to be the most likely state Kamala and Walz could flip.
Although Florida was won by Trump by 3.36% (371,686 votes), it’s likely to remain red especially based on the 2022 governor election results.
I’m not sure how much effort the Harris campaign would/will put into Maine’s 2nd congressional district 7.44%, 27,996 votes).
By this point things are looking like more of a longshot. Trump won Ohio by 8.03% (475,669 votes).
Trump won Iowa by 8.20% (138,611 votes).
Based on this alone, it seems like only North Carolina could be where the Harris campaign could expand from 2020, but of course that would be in addition to holding the close states they won that election (Arizona, Georgia…).
Any thoughts on how the Harris campaign will proceed? Would the Harris campaign be better off with focusing all their efforts on maintaining what she and Biden won in 2020? Or would it depend how polls are trending in the next few/several weeks?
Edited to add: I completely missed mentioning Texas, my mistake. Trump had won by 5.58% (631,221 votes). Maybe if there’s a strong enough push this could be flipped?
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