Surprisingly, three major news outlets that received leaked confidential material from the Donald Trump presidential campaign decided to forego publishing the contents of the documents, opting instead to write stories about what seems to be a digital break-in.
The New York Times, Politico, and The Washington Post all received the documents, which included a report on vice-presidential running mate JD Vance. Campaigns routinely conduct the kind of “opposition research” on their own potential picks so they unearth all potential skeletons in a politician’s closet. It’s not good to be flat-footed against the opposing camp.
Politico, for example, published a story about receiving private emails from someone identified only as “Robert.” The correspondent sent the outlet a report on Vance that totaled 271 pages, plus a similar report on Senator Marco Rubio of Florida. Rubio, a Republican, had been on Trump’s short list for VP.
While none of the outlets published the details of the documents, the New York Times described the character of the Vance report in general terms. Unsurprisingly, the report included past slams against Trump by Vance. Before coming to reconciliation on politics and teaming up for the 2024 campaign, the men had a tense relationship. Vance, best known until now for his memoir about growing up in an abusive family in impoverished Appalachia, was a strong critic of Trump in the past. He once compared him to Hitler.
The Trump campaign said the digital thievery is the work of Iranian spies, a view that has backing from the intelligence community. The FBI has confirmed it is investigating the hacking. Whoever may be behind it simply is not known. When Politico had a conversation with the informant who calls himself “Robert,” the man said “I suggest you don’t be curious” about where and how he got his hands on the documents.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said that any American media that reprint the contents of the stolen documents would be “doing the bidding of America’s enemies.”
The decision not to publicize the details is a surprising one, and stands in contrast to what happened during the heated 2016 election that pitted former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton against Trump. Russian hackers stole thousands of emails from Clinton detailing conversations with her campaign manager, John Podesta, and most media outlets ran with the story in as much detail as possible.
