A US journalist who runs an independent newsletter published a document on Thursday that appeared to have been stolen from Donald Trump's presidential campaign – the first public release of a document believed to be federal part of the dossier officials said. part of iran's efforts to manipulate the US election.
This PDF file is a 271-page opposition research document involving former President Trump's running mate and Ohio Republican Senator JD Vance.
For more than two months, hackers the United States says are linked to Iran have been trying to persuade American media to report on the documents they stole. Not a single store took the bait.
But on Thursday, journalist Ken Klippenstein self-published an article on Substack he left the interception This year, one of the documents was released.
“If the file had been hacked by the hacker group Anonymous, the news media would have reported on it. I just don't believe the news media, as a branch of government, is dedicated to countering foreign influence. Nor should it be.” The public is the gatekeeper of what should be known,” he wrote.
The release of the document reflects how a changing media ecosystem featuring more high-profile independent journalists on platforms like Substack is affecting the ability of state-sponsored hackers to carry out election influence operations.
“This is a very charged election,” Krippenstein said in an interview. “Their policies are very vague. There are very few specifics, and things like this give you a sense of what the campaign is thinking.”
At least three major news outlets and two independent journalists previously received a document known as the J.D. Vance dossier but did not publish it, citing a lack of newsworthy information.
The dissemination of the Vance documents appears to be a hacking operation, similar to how Russian intelligence agencies leaked documents from Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign in 2016. focus on. media criticism.
Politico said it began receiving unpublished Trump documents on July 22. No. 1 news media Report that they have been received. Trump campaign admitted last month It said it had been hacked and blamed Iran, but it gave no details and did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday. Research Publisher Google and Microsoft indicates that the hack occurred in June.
Three U.S. agencies have public attribution The hack and subsequent distribution of the documents to Iran.
Iranian officials have denied involvement in the hack. Iranian Vice President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif told NBC News on Tuesday The country has “no interest in changing or influencing the outcome of this election” and “the Iranian government and official agencies did not hack anyone. Neither did the people who work for us.”
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has Said repeatedly Iran has been seeking to damage Trump's candidacy since July. As president, Trump authorized the assassination of military leader Qasem Soleimani. intelligence officials have He also reported the situation to Trump Iran, they say, is trying to assassinate him. The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Journalists who received the documents described the same pattern: AOL accounts emailed them documents signed by a man named “Robert” who did not want to reveal his identity or want the documents to be protected. reason for reporting.
NBC News was not involved in direct outreach for Robert's character, but it reviewed its correspondence with a reporter from another publication.
An email from Robert's character previously viewed by NBC News contained three large PDF files, one for each of Trump's reported three finalists for vice presidential nomination. The Vance archive appears to be files hosted by Klippenstein on his website.
X (formerly known as Twitter) appeared to take the strongest initial stance against Klippenstein following his Substack post, blocking the account that shared the link to his post and suspending his account. Elon Musk, the site's owner, strongly criticized Twitter's previous leadership for limiting the New York Post's “October Surprise” reporting involving the laptop of President Joe Biden's son Hunter Scandalous material found on.
former intelligence officer warning at that time The laptop is consistent with the work of Russian intelligence services, although no direct link has been publicly confirmed.
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Klippenstein published another post on Substack on Thursday, defending his decision to release the document while acknowledging that it did violate X's rules.
“Am I making a mistake by not editing JD Vance's 'private' information? If I wanted a Twitter account, obviously. But in principle? I absolutely support that,” he said.
Representatives for Substack did not immediately respond to a request for comment.