Cory Booker's Senate campaign hit by hacker who stole thousands: report

The campaign of Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) was targeted by a hacker who stole $3,000 from its bank account — and the campaign has yet to reclaim the lost money.

According to NOTUS, "The $3,092 unauthorized charge to American Express by an unknown person took place on Dec. 17, Booker’s campaign told the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday. The committee opened a new bank account to 'prevent any future fraudulent activity' and disputed the transaction with its bank, but it hasn’t yet recouped the lost money, it wrote in a letter to the FEC."

Booker's communications director, David Bergstein, told NOTUS, “Last year our campaign became aware of a small amount of suspicious bank activity. We immediately reported the issue to our bank so they could follow the appropriate processes and implemented additional security protocols."

Bergstein further clarified that "no donor information was accessed and no unauthorized individual gained internal access to our account.”

Cybercrime is an issue campaigns constantly have to guard against in recent years, and not just for financial reasons; in 2024, both President Donald Trump and former Vice President Kamala Harris saw their campaigns targeted by Iranian hackers who may have had plans to weaponize the information for a political purpose.

The hackers targeting the Trump campaign reportedly pretended to be Ginni Thomas, the wife of far-right Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, to gain access.