A political organization helping prepare for the potential presidential transition of Donald Trump recently experienced a cyberattack by what federal authorities believe are Chinese hackers, according to people familiar with the matter.

Materials were taken from online accounts belonging to the America First Policy Institute, which has put together policy proposals for a second term and recommendations for jobs and agencies, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the investigation.

The group was founded by an array of former top Trump administration officials and the chairwoman of its board, Linda McMahon, is a leader of the transition planning. Its president, Brooke Rollins, was a top official in the Trump White House.

“As the leading policy group in the America First movement, it is not surprising that hostile foreign actors would attempt to infiltrate our IT,” said Marc Lotter, a spokesman for the group. “The tactics, techniques, and procedures of the threat actor are similar to that of nation-state sponsored activities we have seen, allowing us to remediate and respond quickly. Like the America First movement itself, AFPI will not creep at the speed of government but act at the speed of business with the world’s leading cyber experts to even further enhance our already robust security.”

The Justice Department and FBI declined to comment.

The news of the hack itself — but not the suspected Chinese involvement based on the preliminary investigation — was first reported Friday by Politico.

Trump gave AFPI a prominent role in the transition in part to distance himself from the Heritage Foundation, which is also stacked with alumni from his administration and is responsible for Project 2025, the right-wing plan written by his allies that has become a central attack line by Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign.

Trump gave AFPI a prominent role in the transition in part to distance himself from the Heritage Foundation, which is also stacked with alumni from his administration and is responsible for Project 2025, the right-wing plan written by his allies that has become a central attack line by Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign.

Besides McMahon, the group includes more than a dozen former Trump administration advisers. Trump has spoken at the group’s events.

The Trump campaign has been repeatedly targeted by Iran, which successfully infiltrated the campaign’s email account and has sought to disseminate some campaign documents publicly, according to a federal indictment unsealed last month

Aspiring members of Donald Trump’s potential second administration gathered Thursday at Washington’s Royal Sands Social Club — a bar designed to resemble the state of Florida — for a fundraiser that felt like a victory party.

Chris LaCivita, the campaign’s top strategist, told the crowd of lobbyists and former administration officials that the former president would collect at least 289 electoral college votes in November — enough to secure the White House. Vice President Kamala Harris, he added, had plateaued in internal data, according to multiple attendees.

“Everyone in the room told me we were going to win,” said one person, who described the mood as “jubilant” and who like others spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private events.

Less than 24 hours later, Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon convened a Friday all-staff Zoom meeting to also predict victory — but with a much more sobering message. Nothing was certain, she told the roughly 3,000 staffers who joined the call.

“This is not going to be a race where one day we wake up and the sun shines and the clouds part and we’ve won by five points,” O’Malley Dillon told the team, according to someone who was on the call. “It’s just not that kind of race. It is tight, and we are going to just keep driving. Our data is telling us that we are winning and we are going to stay ahead, but it is by the skin of our teeth.”

The opposing messages were delivered as both campaigns have independently come to what is actually a shared understanding of the state of the race. Internal polls on both sides roughly match the public numbers that show the race in the seven battleground states within the statistical margin of error and mostly unchanged in recent weeks. Both campaigns calculate victory based on their own turnout models.

But the two camps are treating that information in divergent ways. Trump’s team has embraced bravado as it tries to keep its candidate on message and encourage him to avoid the sort of high-profile national audiences that might motivate Harris’s supporters.

Trump declined Fox News’s invitation to another presidential debate within hours of the offer this week, giving up a potential audience of about 75 million Americans. He announced rallies in California and New York — uncompetitive states where no Republican has won an electoral vote in 35 years. He authorized the leak of internal polling that showed a statistically tied battleground race with the cheerful conclusion: “Trump holds an edge.”

“You communicate and you push and you demonstrate that you are ahead,” LaCivita said in an interview Friday. “But you run like you are behind.”

Vice President Kamala Harris’s team has, by contrast, embraced the “underdog” spirit of her July launch, hoping to motivate more action from her supporters and grab the attention of those sitting on the sidelines.

Top aides spent last week warning that the $1 billion they raised in 80 days was not enough — never mind the roughly 3-to-1 spending advantage over the Trump campaign in August. The Harris campaign deployed former president Barack Obama to admonish Black men for their somewhat soft support of the vice president, as she called for another debate and hustled between mainstream television programs that Trump has avoided.

In the face of Trump’s cockiness, the Democratic mood has dipped to a mix of desperation and determination. Several people close to Harris conceded they had lost some momentum — and needed something to stir the race up. Harris advisers say they need more ad spending, more paid canvassing, more volunteer energy, more media placements, more surrogates and more activity from their candidates on bigger platforms. Even as they dominate most advertising mediums, they have begun to fret about Trump’s advantage in direct mail, shifting funds to deal with what the tracking firm Mintt says is a 4-to-1 Republican advantage.

“It’s going to take all of us together,” O’Malley Dillon told her team on the Friday Zoom call. “So feel confident in the plan.”

At the core of the calculations of both campaigns are separate research finding that many of the targeted voters in key states still do not have fully formed views of Harris, who only became a candidate for president in July. Views of Trump, by contrast, are nearly universally set. That has made it more important for Harris to make a splash in the final weeks.

“The more people see the real Kamala Harris and the real Tim Walz, the more that I believe they will do the comparison and vote for her,” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) said, referring to the nominee and her running mate, the Minnesota governor. “We’ve got to get people energized in this state because it’s coming down to voter turnout. We’ve got to see passion.”

The lack of definition around Harris has also shaped the advertising wars. Ads for the vice president mostly seek to provide contrast, mixing positive introductory messages about her and her plans with negative depictions of Trump.

The Trump campaign instead has focused its recent advertising on trying to define Harris as an extreme ideologue who is not on the side of regular Americans. The strategy echoes the approach of other incumbent presidents, like Obama in 2012 and George W. Bush in 2004, who seek to define their newcomer opponents as out-of-touch before they can fully introduce themselves to the American people.

The Trump campaign has put the most money in October advertising behind ads about Harris’s past support for taxpayer-funded gender-reassignment surgery for prisoners, according to AdImpact. The Harris campaign has called the ads “false,” pointing to federal court rulings that have upheld the right for inmates to get health care, but has not clarified her position on the issue.

The Trump ads run in both English and Spanish, often around sporting events with more male audiences. “Kamala is for they/them. Donald Trump is for you,” one of the spots concludes.

Trump has also chosen to focus on his rallies, which tend to be watched primarily by his supporters. In a sign of her desire to elevate the race, Harris has repeatedly urged more Americans to tune into Trump events, which are rarely covered by the major cable news networks, to see what he is offering.

Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary for the Trump campaign, said in a statement he would win “because he is out working Kamala Harris every day.” The Harris campaign declined to comment for this story.

Several Trump advisers said they did not see an upside to doing a second debate because they believe Harris needs a momentum moment more than they do. In the final weeks, the campaign is likely to focus advertisements on immigration, the economy and a clip on the television show “The View” where Harris initially said she wouldn’t do anything differently than Biden during his term before citing appointing a Republican to her Cabinet.

“People say, ‘Why aren’t we doing the debates?’ The question is, ‘Why do them?’” another Trump adviser said. “They could try to create a contrast with us. We’re going to starve her of that opportunity.”

Tony Fabrizio, the campaign’s pollster, has urged the campaign to talk about the economy. Campaign advisers have discussed limiting interviews and appearances outside of rallies.

Public polling averages have been so close for so long that divining their meaning has become a matter more akin to faith than science. Between Harris’s entrance in the race and early September, high-quality national public polls have shown the Democratic ticket move from a two-point deficit to a two-point advantage against Trump, with corresponding movements in most swing states. But that drift slowed or stopped in recent weeks — leaving a largely stable race that can be interpreted different ways depending on one’s assumptions of who will actually turn out to vote and how the polling sample is designed.

The differing vibes from the two campaigns also reflect the differing styles of the candidates. In each of his races for the White House, Trump has exaggerated his dominance, often citing polls that have no statistical significance. He frequently encourages those around him to shower him with praise. Before landing in Pennsylvania this month for a rally in Butler — the site of a July 13 assassination attempt on his life — he gathered with his advisers at the window of his plane to look at the crowd down below, which appeared similar in size to other events.

“It’s a monster,” one of his top advisers said, according to a video of the exchange posted on X by Rep. Mike Waltz (R-Fla.). “It’s a lot of people. I don’t think I have ever seen that much before.” Trump agreed, as others praised him on the plane.

LaCivita kept up that same enthusiasm Thursday night when he told the fundraising crowd in Washington that Harris had to place more advertisements on TV because they didn’t have a good message. He described polling that he said showed Trump ahead in major states and crowed that Trump had a better message, according to people present. A second attendee said people were partially there to network for jobs in a second Trump administration.

Harris, by contrast, has less interest in such positive talk. Aides say she has become more comfortable in recent weeks accepting unscripted appearances on news shows, at town halls and on podcasts as it has become more clear to her campaign that she needs to communicate with more voters.

Former congressman Conor Lamb (D-Pa.) said Trump holds a slight edge over Harris in western Pennsylvania — though he said that in conversations with voters in recent days, Harris still has an opportunity to win over Trump-leaning voters. He said he recently spoke to someone who voted for Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020, and was 60 percent likely to vote for Trump again, attributing his preference to Trump because he is a known quantity.

“That tells me though that if Trump hasn’t fully closed the deal, Harris still has an opportunity if people get a chance to know her,” he said. “Trump knows that people are not going to change their opinions on him very much regardless of what he says or does. Her strategy to be more active and visible makes sense.”

Vice President Kamala Harris’s doctor said in a letter Saturday that she is in “excellent health” as she released her first medical report in an effort to draw a sharp contrast with her 78-year-old opponent, Republican Donald Trump.

The letter, from Joshua R. Simmons, Harris’s physician for the past 3½ years, concludes that the 59-year-old Harris “possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.”

Harris had a physical in April that was “unremarkable,” according to the letter, and she has only minor medical conditions. She has seasonal allergies and urticaria, a common skin condition that can cause itchy, raised bumps or welts on the skin. Her allergies have been managed with over-the-counter and prescription medications, according to the letter, and Harris has been on allergy immunotherapy for the past three years, which her physician said has greatly improved both her allergy and urticaria symptoms to the point that she no longer needs regular medication.

Harris released the letter as her campaign seeks to draw more attention to Trump’s health and age and paint them as liabilities to his capacityto serve as commander in chief, according to a senior Harris aide, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to freely discuss a sensitive issue. The letter, which provides information including Harris’s blood pressure, heart rate and blood oxygen level, stops short of a full medical report.

Trump has refused to release his medical reports since entering the presidential race, which Harris’s advisers see as an opportunity to draw attention to questions about his age and mental acuity. In recent weeks, several Harris aides and surrogates have sought to draw more focus to Trump’s rambling speeches and confusing answers, especially during unscripted moments. He frequently mixes up names, dates, cities and countries when recalling events.

Harris is releasing the letter from her doctor as polls show she and Trump have been in a deadlocked race for several weeks and her campaign says they expect a race that will come down to razor-thin margins.

Democrats were careful not to draw attention to the issue of age when President Joe Biden, 81, was the party’s nominee, and the White House was extraordinarily defensive of questions about the president’s mental acuity and ability to serve for another four years — especially after a halting debate performance in June that ultimately led Biden to drop out of the race.

Since Harris’s ascent to the top of the ticket, however, Democrats and the Harris campaign have aimed to make Trump’s age a liability. In the final, critical three weeks before Election Day, on Nov. 5, Harris’s campaign is hoping to raise concerns among voters about why Trump has not released more medical information, contrast her age and “vitality” with his, and highlight Trump’s refusal to agree to another debate or mainstream media interviews.

Trump, who is the oldest person to become a presidential nominee after Biden dropped out of the race this summer, has long guarded even basic health information. Since entering the race last year, Trump has released only a vague, three-paragraph letter from his primary care physician, Bruce A. Aronwald.

In that letter in November, Aronwald wrote that the former president was in excellent physical and mental health He later said in a statement released by campaign officials to The Washington Post that “there is no need for President Trump to release another medical report in addition to the one he recently made public.”

After a gunman grazed Trump’s ear in an assassination attempt in July, Trump released a letter from his former White House physician, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Tex.), who described treating a two-centimeter-wide wound to Trump’s right ear. The letter stated that Trump had a CT scan of his head and other tests, but the campaign did not release the results.

Trump’s most detailed health update came in 2018, while he was serving as president. Jackson, who was then his physician, appeared at the White House press room podium and provided details that included a CT scan showing Trump’s coronary calcium score was 133, up from 34 in 2009. At the time, CNN’s chief medical correspondent, Sanjay Gupta, and other experts said the score indicated that Trump had heart disease.

That letter also said Trump weighed 239 pounds, making him borderline obese. In the following two years, Trump’s doctors revealed that his weight had increased to 243 and then 244 pounds, making him obese according to government standards.

But during other points of Trump’s presidency, he and his physicians were misleading about his health, including when he had covid-19 in October 2020, before vaccines were available and the virus was killing thousands of Americans every day. Trump’s infection was far more serious than his advisers acknowledged at the time.

Simmons’s letter noted that Harris’s family has a history of colon cancer, which led to her mother’s death. He said Harris has no personal history of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, cardiac disease, pulmonary disease, neurological disorders, cancer or osteoporosis. Harris’s only surgical history is the removal of her appendix when she was 3 years old, Simmons wrote.

Simmons, who holds the rank of colonel in the Army, also wrote that Harris maintains “a healthy, active lifestyle despite her busy schedule, including vigorous daily aerobic exercise and core strength training,” noting that the vice president also “eats a very healthy diet.”

The Gateway Pundit, a far-right website, published a note from its editor on Saturday acknowledging that two election workers in Georgia did not engage in ballot fraud in 2020, days after the publication settled a lawsuit brought against it for falsely reporting that they had tampered with election results.

Earlier this week, the site settled with Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss, two former Georgia election workers. The terms of the settlement have not been disclosed.

“Georgia officials concluded that there was no widespread voter fraud by election workers who counted ballots at the State Farm Arena in November 2020. The results of this investigation indicate that Ruby Freeman and Wandrea ‘Shaye’ Moss did not engage in ballot fraud or criminal misconduct while working at State Farm Arena on election night,” said the note published to the website Saturday morning by the publication’s founder and editor, Jim Hoft. “A legal matter with this news organization and the two election workers has been resolved to the mutual satisfaction of the parties through a fair and reasonable settlement.”

The Gateway Pundit wrote a series of articles about the 2020 presidential election amplifying spurious claims that Freeman, Moss and former Dominion Voting Systems executive Eric Coomer helped rig the 2020 election in favor of Joe Biden.

The Gateway Pundit had denied wrongdoing and previously said it was seeking bankruptcy protection.

In 2022, Freeman and Moss settled a similar claim with One America News. Terms were not disclosed. OAN later broadcast a statement saying that a Georgia investigation by the state’s officials had shown that the women “did not engage in ballot fraud or criminal misconduct while working at State Farm Arena on election night.”

In July, a federal judge in Florida threw out a bankruptcy case filed by the Gateway Pundit, ruling that the site sought bankruptcy protection in “bad faith” to avoid having to pay potential damages in defamation suits related to the site’s reporting on the 2020 election. The ruling allowed the defamation cases to proceed.

Moss and Freeman were drawn into the controversy after Rudy Giuliani, then Trump’s top campaign lawyer, alleged publicly in December 2020 that the mother-daughter pair had rigged the outcome in their state. Giuliani’s claims have not held up, and Georgia election officials have said that the allegations were false. But none of the explanations kept the two from receiving a barrage of harassment, threats and racist attacks.

Last year, amid a defamation suit filed against him by Freeman and Moss that he eventually lost, Giuliani declared in a court filing that he was no longer contesting their claims that his statements were false.

He has so far avoided paying out the $148 million awarded by the court. The two women sued him in August in an attempt to seize his assets, including his condos in New York and Florida, and also his New York Yankees World Series rings — among the items he listed as assets when he filed for bankruptcy during the defamation case. A status conference scheduled for Oct. 17 in federal court in the Southern District of New York will hear arguments related to that case.

The Gateway Pundit still faces a separate defamation suit from Coomer.

Sarah Ellison and Amy Gardner contributed reporting.