Trump website 'seized', hackers claim to have found evidence of crimes

Donald Trump's campaign site briefly went offline after hackers "seized" control of it and posted a claim that they had evidence that "completely discredits" him as a president and proves his "criminal involvement" in electoral interference.

The message briefly appeared on the homepage of DonaldJTrump.com shortly before the site went offline at 12.20pm NZ time.

The site now appears to be back online.

The hackers claimed that they had gained access to "multiple devices" and gained access to Trump, his relatives and "strictly classified information".

The message posted to the site.

"We have evidence that completely discredits mr trump as a president, proving his criminal involvement and cooperation with foreign actors manipulating the 2020 elections. the US citizens have no choice," the message read.

The message also contained the claim that "Strictly classified information is exposed proving that the Trump gov is involved in the origin of the coronavirus".

The hackers did not provide any information to support their claims, but did provide two accounts for a cryptocurrency and invited users to place in funds in them to decide whether the information would be released.

.@realDonaldTrump's campaign website has been hacked. Doing research for a climate change article and this is what pops up: pic.twitter.com/Kjc2ELSdAV

— Gabriel Lorenzo Greschler (@ggreschler) October 27, 2020

Trump 2020 Communications Director Tim Murtaugh later released a statement on the hack, saying that no sensitive data had been compromised.

"Earlier this evening, the Trump campaign website was defaced and we are working with law enforcement authorities to investigate the source of the attack," Murtaugh wrote.

"There was no exposure to sensitive date because no of it is actually stored on the site. The website has been restored."

Earlier this evening, the Trump campaign website was defaced and we are working with law enforcement authorities to investigate the source of the attack. There was no exposure to sensitive data because none of it is actually stored on the site. The website has been restored.

— Tim Murtaugh (@TimMurtaugh) October 28, 2020