Mike Johnson says Harris is Iran’s ‘preferred candidate,’ demands info on Trump campaign hacks
Fox News
FIRST ON FOX: House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is putting the U.S. intelligence community on the spot after Iranian hackers tried to disseminate private information from former President Donald Trump’s campaign.
“Congress is outraged by the Biden-Harris Administration’s inaction and unwillingness to hold Iran accountable for its cyberattacks on the Trump campaign,” Johnson wrote in letters to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
“As you have shared, Iran hacked into the Trump campaign and distributed private information directly to the Biden campaign and to American media, which, like Iran, favors Kamala Harris.”
In his letter, he also claimed Harris was Iran’s “preferred candidate” in the race.
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Last week, the three agencies released a rare joint statement, revealing that “Iranian malicious cyber actors” sent stolen Trump campaign materials to people linked to President Biden’s since-defunct re-election campaign, beginning in June. They also sent non-public materials to U.S. media organizations, the agencies said.
However, Johnson told their directors that “several unanswered questions remain.”
“The American people must be informed of how the cyberattacks and distribution of information happened, the timeline indicating when the attacks occurred and were verified, and the concrete steps your agencies have taken to deter future attacks,” Johnson wrote.
He accused the Biden administration of failing to deter election interference efforts by Iran or other hostile foreign powers and pointed out that Iran has also recently been accused of trying to kill the former president.
“To date, the Biden-Harris Administration has not offered or executed any meaningful action to show our enemies such interference will not be tolerated, nor shared what steps, if any, it has taken to deter future attacks on Donald Trump or his campaign,” Johnson wrote.
“With less than 45 days until the election, much more needs to be done to protect our nation’s sovereignty and stop Iran from tipping the election in favor of its preferred candidate.”
He gave the agencies a deadline of Oct. 4, roughly a month before Election Day.
Multiple outlets reported earlier this month that the Justice Department and FBI are planning to file criminal charges against those involved with the Trump campaign hack.
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FBI Director Christopher Wray warned in February that foreign adversaries posed a threat to the U.S. having “free and fair elections.”
“The U.S. has confronted foreign malign influence threats in the past, but this election cycle, the U.S. will face more adversaries, moving at a faster pace, and enabled by new technology,” he said during a national security forum.
Fox News Digital reached out to the Harris campaign, as well as the FBI, CISA and the DNI, for comment.