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By Aila Slisco
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Iran's alleged plot to assassinate former President Donald Trump and hack the Trump campaign amount to "an act of war," according to Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
Just days after a would-be assassin's bullet grazed Trump's ear in July, the FBI announced that Iran had allegedly been separately plotting to kill the former president. Federal officials later revealed that Iran had hacked and stolen confidential information from the Trump campaign.
Graham said during a Tuesday night interview on Fox News' Jesse Watters Primetime that Iran should "pay a price" for allegedly targeting Trump and attempting to "undermine" the 2024 presidential election.
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"I think this is an act of war against the American people," Graham said. "It's a hostile act. The Iranians have hacked into President Trump's campaign account [and] his legal team's account, sharing the information with the American media to undermine our election."
"We've done nothing about it," he continued. "At the end of the day, we know they're trying to assassinate President Trump ... When you find a foreign power trying to kill a nominee of a major party, you should do something about it."
Graham went on to accuse President Joe Biden and Trump's opponent in this year's presidential election, Vice President Kamala Harris, of not doing enough to counter the alleged Iranian attacks on Trump.
"President Biden, what are you doing about this?" Graham said. "Vice President Harris, could you speak up and tell the Iranians this is unacceptable?"
Newsweek reached out for comment to the White House and the Harris campaign via email on Tuesday night.
Iranian officials have denied involvement in any plot to assassinate Trump and called the hacking accusation "unsubstantiated and devoid of any standing."
In a statement emailed to Newsweek on Tuesday, Steven Cheung, Trump campaign communications director, said that the former president had been "briefed earlier today by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence regarding real and specific threats from Iran to assassinate him in an effort to destabilize and sow chaos in the United States."
"Intelligence officials have identified that these continued and coordinated attacks have heightened in the past few months, and law enforcement officials across all agencies are working to ensure President Trump is protected and the election is free from interference," Cheung said.
"Make no mistake, the terror regime in Iran loves the weakness of Kamala Harris, and is terrified of the strength and resolve of President Trump," he added. "He will let nothing stop him or get in his way to fight for the American people and to Make America Great Again."
The FBI and other federal agencies this month said that Iran sent unsolicited emails containing material stolen from the Trump campaign to the Biden campaign in late June and early July, shortly before the president dropped out of the election and endorsed Harris.
There is no indication, however, that Biden or Harris responded to Iran or used the information, with the Harris campaign later calling the emails "unwelcome and unacceptable malicious activity."
The FBI said in a statement that the alleged Iran hacking incident was an example of several different "foreign actors increasing their election influence activities" ahead of the November election.
"In particular, Russia, Iran, and China are trying by some measure to exacerbate divisions in U.S. society for their own benefit, and see election periods as moments of vulnerability," the statement reads. "Efforts by these, or other foreign actors, to undermine our democratic institutions are a direct threat to the U.S. and will not be tolerated."
The Department of Justice announced on September 4 that it had charged two Russian nationals, accusing them of participating in a plot that involved the Kremlin funding a right-wing U.S. media organization with millions of dollars to publish content intended to influence the election outcome.
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