Washington
Hackers briefly broke into Donald Trump’s campaign website on Tuesday, just a week before Election Day, officials and reports said.
“This site was seized,” said a message that popped up on donaldjtrump.com, which normally carries details of rallies and fund raising appeals.
“The world has had enough of the fake-news spreaded daily by president donald j trump”, the message went to say, US media reported.
Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh said the site was quickly fixed and no sensitive data was compromised.
“The Trump campaign website was defaced and we are working with law enforcement authorities to investigate the source of the attack,” Murtaugh said.
The technology website Techcrunch said the hack appeared to be a scam intended to collect hard-to-trace cypto-currency Monero.
In their message, the hackers claimed to have confidential information on Trump and his relatives. They instructed people to send crypto-currency to one address if they wanted the information revealed and to another to keep it secret.
First Lady Melania Trump on Tuesday hit the campaign trail for her president husband for the first time on her own this year, praising him as a “fighter” and offering support to pandemic victims.
Trump, 50, has been only a rare presence at her husband’s campaign events, but won praise for her speech at the Republican Party’s nominating convention in August.
“Donald is a fighter. He loves this country and he fights for you every single day,” she told supporters of the president in Pennsylvania, a key battleground in his duel with Joe Biden.
Her plans to hit the trail with her husband last week were thwarted due to a “lingering cough” from her battle with the coronavirus, which struck the first couple and son Barron.
“Thank you for all the love and support you gave us when our family was diagnosed with Covid-19,” she said Tuesday. “We are feeling so much better now.”
She offered compassion to families of the more than 225,000 Americans who have succumbed to Covid so far this year.
“I know there are many people who have lost loved ones or know people who have been forever impacted by this silent enemy,” she said.
“My family’s thoughts and prayers are with all of you through this difficult time,” Trump added. “We will triumph over this virus.” In her speech, she offered a few comments about her husband’s rabid Twitter use.—APP
