Hackers steal $2.3m from Trump’s re-election account in Wisconsin

Hackers stole $2.3m from a Wisconsin Republican Party account that was being used to help US President Donald Trump’s re-election bid in the swing state, the party said in a statement on Thursday.

Reuters reported the Wisconsin Republicans as saying that hackers got the money by doctoring invoices sent under the name of the party’s vendors.

It said the party noticed the suspicious activity on October 22 and contacted the FBI on Friday.

There was no immediate response to an email seeking comment from the FBI.

“These criminals exhibited a level of familiarity with state party operations at the end of the campaign to commit this crime,” Wisconsin Republican Party Chairman, Andrew Hitt, said in the statement.

Trump won Wisconsin by a small margin in 2016 and it remains a state that could help decide the November 3 election, with both the President and Democratic challenger, Joe Biden, making strenuous efforts to rally supporters there.

Reuters/Ipsos polling from October 20-26 shows Biden with a solid 53 per cent to 44 per cent lead over Trump in the state.