Trump Blames Minnesota, Not Iran, for Cyberattack, Despite Initial Investigation
President Trump claimed without evidence that Minnesota’s Democratic government was “behind” a cyberattack on the state’s own water systems. Investigators believe Iran is likely responsible.
President Trump on Friday disputed that Iran was behind a cyberattack on dozens of municipal water systems in Minnesota, as U.S. and state investigators have said is most likely the case, instead blaming the state and its Democratic governor, Tim Walz, without evidence.
Mr. Walz dismissed the accusation in a social media post soon after.
The New York Times reported Thursday that U.S. and Minnesota state officials believed Iran was likely responsible for the cyberattacks on water systems. The F.B.I. said late Thursday the hackers had targeted water facilities in at least seven states .
Mr. Trump dismissed that assessment in a freewheeling cabinet meeting on Friday, saying: “I don’t think so. I think Minnesota is behind it,” adding, “I think the governor’s behind it. I don’t think there was an Iranian cyberattack.”
The president’s baseless claim, contradicted by investigators’ statements that other states had been targeted and their water systems were “degraded” by the attack, appeared aimed at downplaying the threat of the increasingly unpopular war with Iran inside America’s borders. Mr. Trump instead shifted blame to Mr. Walz, Kamala Harris’s running mate in 2024, and his state government, continuing a pattern of trying to punish Minnesota and its Democratic leadership , particularly over the issue of immigration .
