News: 0175144599

  ARM Give a man a fire and he's warm for a day, but set fire to him and he's warm for the rest of his life (Terry Pratchett, Jingo)

Iranian Operatives Charged in the US With Hacking Donald Trump's Presidential Campaign (apnews.com)

(Friday September 27, 2024 @05:20PM (msmash) from the breaking-news dept.)


The Justice Department unsealed criminal charges Friday [1]against three Iranian operatives suspected of hacking Donald Trump's presidential campaign and disseminating stolen information to media organizations. From a report:

> The three accused hackers were employed by Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard and their operation also targeted a broad swath of targets, including government officials, members of the media and non-governmental organizations, the Justice Department said.

>

> The Trump campaign disclosed on Aug. 10 that it had been hacked and said Iranian actors had stolen and distributed sensitive internal documents. Multiple major news organizations that said they were leaked confidential information from inside the Trump campaign, including Politico, The New York Times and The Washington Post, declined to publish it.



[1] https://apnews.com/article/trump-hacking-iran-justice-department-1d7d83ccdc6c879be2802142f1c47191



Humor rich story (Score:1)

by shanen ( 462549 )

Come on folks, this one is a gold mine for the jokes.

Re: (Score:1)

by shanen ( 462549 )

Mod parent funny? Even though I have no idea what you're thinking? Please elaborate.

But I think the obvious joke about 'only hiring the best people' is too obvious for a Funny mod. (Another obvious joke I've been looking for would involve an orange albatross with three right wings...)

Re:Doubt.exe (Score:5, Informative)

by hey! ( 33014 )

The illusion that the vast majority of people think so much like you they automatically know what you think is a by-product of consuming too much content mediated by engagement maximizing algorithms. Or in some cases relying to much on cable news.

Re:Doubt.exe (Score:5, Funny)

by AleRunner ( 4556245 )

> The illusion that the vast majority of people think so much like you they automatically know what you think is a by-product of consuming too much content mediated by engagement maximizing algorithms. Or in some cases relying to much on cable news.

that was exactly what I was thinking.

Re: (Score:1)

by penguinoid ( 724646 )

I was very impressed by the spread of "Let's go Brandon". Such witty, independent thinkers!

Re: (Score:2)

by Cajun Hell ( 725246 )

I think he was going for the classic "calculated ambiguity that would be clearly understood," but he overcalculated.

Re: (Score:3)

by iikkakeranen ( 6279982 )

Perhaps what makes it funny is that people reading it will all read something different into it, and react without realizing they've been made fools of. :D

Re: (Score:2)

by Darinbob ( 1142669 )

I don't know what he's thinking either. Justice Department says there was a hack by Iranian actors of the campaign; and the campaign itself says it was hacked by Iranian actors; so where's the doubt.exe?

If there's a knee jerk reaction to doubt the justice department, if you combine that with a knee jerk reaction to believe everything the campaign says, then I can only imagine there's a lot of Riverdancing going on in places...

Where are they? (Score:2)

by yog ( 19073 ) *

If the alleged hackers are in Iran, good luck bringing them to trial.

Re: (Score:2)

by NoWayNoShapeNoForm ( 7060585 )

> If all of their documents are written in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, or is it just Trump's posts?

I think the Iranians hacked something. Then fed it all to ChatGPT for translation into their fancy R-L crusive script-like written language and got this material pointing it all to Trump. So they translated all that ChatGPT translated stuff into English and handed it over to the Democrats.

Only thing missing from the news is a request from the Iranians to the Democrats asking them to Pay Up Or Else for this service.

Motive (Score:2, Insightful)

by Big Bipper ( 1120937 )

If this story is true, and not some misinformation, it would seem that Iran is more afraid of Trump than Harris. It's in Iran's best interest to have as weak an America as possible, so perhaps they're thinking that another four years of deep state rule, by whoever is pulling the deep state's strings, will weaken America significantly. Four more years and perhaps they'll only have to deal with Israel by itself.

Re: (Score:1, Troll)

by skam240 ( 789197 )

Or maybe they think Trump is the insane wild card that he is and would rather deal with a rational grown-up.

See, the partisan arguments can go both ways here

Re:Motive (Score:4, Informative)

by mackil ( 668039 )

> ... it would seem that Iran is more afraid of Trump than Harris.

Actually they're angry that Trump had Qassem Soleimani killed.

It's kind of funny. The Russians hack the Democrats, the Iranians hack Trump. The Russians and Iranians are practically allies. They should probably schedule some collaborative hacker meetings to make sure they're on the same page.

Re: (Score:2)

by LazarusQLong ( 5486838 )

maybe they are? they think that just tossing shit everywhere will create the kind of chaos in America that will benefit them?

Re: (Score:2)

by Darinbob ( 1142669 )

A shit hole for you, a shit hole for you, a shit hole for everybody!

Re: (Score:2)

by Local ID10T ( 790134 )

++insightful

United we stand, Divided we fall.

Re: Motive (Score:2)

by Frank Burly ( 4247955 )

No, no, no. Not only does your theory lack a conspiracy between antagonistic organizations, it doesn't even have a conspiracy between countries that we know conspire together! Also, you've provided a rational reason for Iran to hate Trump. I hope you realize how unsophisticated you sound.

Re: (Score:1, Informative)

by guruevi ( 827432 )

When did the Russians hack the Harris campaign? If you're talking about the Clinton e-mail server, it has since become clear, it wasn't just the Russians, Iranians, Israelis, even Germany and North Korea was supposedly poking around, which you know, if you're running an Exchange 2003 server in a bathroom is kind of what you deserve.

Iranians hack Trump, they made it clear why, they want revenge for effectively decapitating their terror network for several years, only last year is when they got things back up

Re: (Score:2)

by test321 ( 8891681 )

They are in an alliance of circumstances, like the US and the Taliban in early 1980s. The common statement between Russia and Iran is their hate for the West, though they might disagree on which Westerner they hate the most.

Re: (Score:3)

by RobinH ( 124750 )

It would be foolish to think that the Russians or Iranians would side with one American political party or another. They view the US as an adversary, no matter who is elected. Their goal, clearly, is to sow as much discord in American society as possible. The internet and social media is a wonderful tool for that, and these other countries are having a field day [1]encouraging Americans to fight with each other [npr.org].

It helps to understand how Russian propaganda works. It's not like WWII propaganda that was just

[1] https://www.npr.org/2017/11/01/561427876/how-russia-used-facebook-to-organize-two-sets-of-protesters

Re: (Score:2)

by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

More likely it's Trump's pro-Israel stance. He moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, in a move that was seen as provocative by Iran, who support the Palestinians.

If Trump gets back in he will probably continue to arm and support Israel unconditionally. Harris seems a lot less keen on what Netanyahu is doing, even if she hasn't really said or done anything to stop it.

Plus if Trump loses there are likely to be at least some incidents from MAGAs who have been primed to expect a civil war when Biden and Harris "st

Re: (Score:2, Troll)

by MobileTatsu-NJG ( 946591 )

> ...it would seem that Iran is more afraid of Trump than Harris.

You really think it's that and not that Iran expects Trump to attempt another insurrection and plunge the USA into chaos?

Re: (Score:1)

by MobileTatsu-NJG ( 946591 )

> You really think it's that and not that Iran expects Trump to attempt another insurrection and plunge the USA into chaos?

Downmod my post if it hurts your feelz, but it remains a legitimate point.

Re: (Score:2)

by thegarbz ( 1787294 )

> Downmod my post if it hurts your feelz, but it remains a legitimate point.

To be a legitimate point it needs to be sequitur. It's not. Why would Iran (an infamous *NOT* ally of the USA) want to support the USA and prevent it from being plunged into chaos. For your post to make sense they would have had to hack the Dems.

Re: (Score:2)

by MobileTatsu-NJG ( 946591 )

You've got it the wrong way around. I'm not suggesting Iran would be supporting the USA if they caused Trump to lose the election, just the opposite. I'm suggesting that the point of the hack might have been to make Trump lose the election so he would challenge the results, plunging the US into chaos. That also tracks with their alleged plot to assassinate him.

If I'm wrong, fine, but let's discuss it instead of cowardly moderating my posts down.

Re: (Score:3)

by test321 ( 8891681 )

Iranian general Qasem Soleimani was assassinated on 3 January 2020 by US drone strike under the Trump administration. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] Iran isn't interested in having a US president that demonstrated bellicose intends against them.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Qasem_Soleimani#Trump_briefing

Re: (Score:2)

by quantaman ( 517394 )

> If this story is true, and not some misinformation, it would seem that Iran is more afraid of Trump than Harris. It's in Iran's best interest to have as weak an America as possible, so perhaps they're thinking that another four years of deep state rule, by whoever is pulling the deep state's strings, will weaken America significantly. Four more years and perhaps they'll only have to deal with Israel by itself.

The US military power is orders of magnitude more powerful than Iran, so weakening that is pointless. And a weaker US in less able to influence the Saudis and Israelis, Iran's arch-nemesis, so a less influential US is counter-productive.

And the idea that the US would "weaken" so much in 4 years that they would be unable or unwilling to defend Israel, is not only dumb, but ignores that Israel still has Nukes.

No, it's in Iran's best interest to have as friendly an America as possible, and probably a strong on

Re: (Score:3)

by Darinbob ( 1142669 )

That's a weird way of reading the situation. Everyone other country is dubious about Trump because they saw the four years of chaos when he was already there. Iran doesn't want either to be president but it's not like they have a third choice. They're not really scared of Trump, they're more scared of an unrestrained Netanyahu opening up a new war front. Iran sees America as a country of liars; promising a nuclear deal then backing out a few short years later, they have no trust for either politician.

Tr

Pointer to the Dossier in question (Score:5, Informative)

by davecb ( 6526 )

Article: [1]https://www.kenklippenstein.co... [kenklippenstein.com]

J. D. Jance dossier [2]https://www.kenklippenstein.co... [kenklippenstein.com]

[1] https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/read-the-jd-vance-dossier

[2] https://www.kenklippenstein.com/api/v1/file/fc39e78d-f510-4918-935b-95701be97310.pdf

Revolutionary Guard? (Score:2)

by LazarusQLong ( 5486838 )

The Revolutionary Guard are in no way a 'paramilitary organization', they are the 100% fanatical soldiers that are the best that Iran has.

Iran = CIA (Score:1, Interesting)

by elcor ( 4519045 )

highly recommended X account: Mike Benz

... declined to publish it. (Score:1)

by Anonymous Coward

Yes, of course, nobody expects them to bite the hand that feeds. They sure were quick to publish the Clinton bullshit though. If they have it and don't publish, they are negligent in their duty to the public. If it was Iranians (which I doubt), then apparently they don't want it widely released either, or looking for a "reward", otherwise they would just put it up on their own servers for all to see. The story is bogus. Pics or GTFO!

Why bother? (Score:3)

by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 )

We're talking about the Trump campaign. Could anything honestly come out of this that could possibly shock or surprise anyone? Trump could admit to having eaten the babies of poor people after shooting their parents, and his supporters would just yawn and say "that's nothing compared to the deep state stuff".

Maybe they were hacking to help (Score:2)

by zawarski ( 1381571 )

Saw there was no way he was going to win on his own so lending a helping hand.

Anyone understand this? (Score:1)

by CEC-P ( 10248912 )

So the Dems want to go to war with Iran. The establishment crooked Republicans do too. Trump does not. So why did Iran do this? They want the party to win that will wipe them off the map?

Man who arrives at party two hours late will find he has been beaten
to the punch.