Multiple media outlets were leaked internal material from Donald Trump’s campaign, including vetting information about JD Vance, though outlets including the New York Times and the Washington Post have refrained from publishing details.
Politico was the first to report the leak on Saturday, writing that the outlet began receiving emails from an anonymous account with documents from the campaign operation. The outlet began receiving emails on July 22 from an AOL account identified only as “Robert,” including a 271-page research dossier on Vance.
The New York Times reported that the newspaper also received a “similar if not identical trove of data,” from an anonymous source purporting to be the same Politico tipster, as did the Washington Post.
None of the outlets, however, have decided to publish the documents in full, more specifically the seemingly extensive dossier on Trump’s running-mate, opting to vaguely describe the content received.
This marks a stark shift from coverage of the 2016 presidential campaign, as a Russian hack exposed private emails from within Hillary Clinton’s campaign. News organizations tirelessly covered the exposed information published via Wikileaks.
The Trump campaign’s response to the leak this time around was to point to a Friday Microsoft report that declared a hacking group run by the intelligence unit of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps had breached the account of a high-ranking official in a presidential campaign.
“These documents were obtained illegally from foreign sources hostile to the United States, intended to interfere with the 2024 election and sow chaos throughout our Democratic process,” Steven Cheung, a campaign spokesman, said in a statement.
