(GoRealNewsNow.com) – After a foreign adversary hacked and leaked former President Donald Trump’s campaign documents, the U.S. State Department has defended the GOP candidate while the FBI opens an international criminal investigation.
In a rebuke of hostile actions by a U.S. enemy, State Department spokesman Vedant Patel warned Iran of potential consequences for interfering in the elections.
Patel stated, “These latest attempts to interfere in US elections are nothing new for the Iranian regime, which, from our vantage point, has undermined democracies — or attempted to — for many years now.”
Patel noted that the U.S. has previously raised concerns about Iranian cyber activities.
“We continue to have a number of tools in our tool belt to hold the Iranian regime accountable, and we won’t hesitate to use them,” he said.
However, Patel did not confirm if the U.S. had determined whether Iran was indeed behind the alleged hacking.
At the White House, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby directed questions about responsibility to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Department of Justice (DOJ).
Nevertheless, he referenced an earlier intelligence report suggesting that Iran “is working to influence” the presidential election.
Additionally, the Trump campaign claimed that Iran was behind the hacking attempt, which involved documents such as research used to vet running mate J.D. Vance being sent to reporters.
In turn, the campaign warned media outlets against publishing the documents, stating that doing so would be “doing the bidding of America’s enemies.”
This stance contrasts sharply with Trump’s position in 2016 when he publicly hoped Russia would hack rival Hillary Clinton’s emails to find deleted messages.
U.S. intelligence later concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election to support Trump, a finding Trump has rejected.
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