Kash Patel, who was announced on Saturday as President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), reportedly was targeted by Iranian hackers.
Two sources told CNN that Patel was recently notified by the FBI that he had been targeted in an Iranian hacking operation. One of the sources told CNN that the Iranian hackers are believed to have accessed some of the Trump nominee’s communications.
CNN reported that while Alex Pfeiffer, a Trump transition spokesperson, did not directly address the report of the Iranian hacking operation, Pfeiffer provided a statement to the outlet, emphasizing Patel’s commitment to the president-elect’s second-term agenda.
Pfeiffer said, “Kash Patel was a key part of the first Trump administration’s efforts against the terrorist Iranian regime and will implement President Trump’s policies to protect America from adversaries as the FBI Director.”
In a Saturday statement on Truth Social, Trump announced that Patel would be replacing current FBI Director Christopher Wray for his second term in the White House.
“I am proud to announce that Kashyap ‘Kash’ Patel will serve as the next Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Trump wrote. “Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People.”
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In his post on Truth Social, Trump said Patel did an “incredible job” serving as the chief of staff for the Department of Defense, the deputy director of National Intelligence, and the senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council during his first administration.
In addition to reports of Iran’s attempt to target Patel in its hacking operation, CNN reported that multiple individuals close to the president-elect have been targeted by foreign hackers over the past few months.
According to CNN, the FBI recently notified Todd Blanche, a Trump attorney and the president-elect’s deputy attorney general nominee, that Chinese hackers had tapped his cellphone. CNN reported that another Trump lawyer, Lindsey Halligan, was previously targeted by Iranian hackers earlier this year. The outlet also noted that Donald Trump Jr. previously claimed the FBI had warned him that he was one of Iran’s “top targets.”
According to Fox News, roughly a dozen of Trump’s cabinet nominees and appointees were also targeted last month with bomb threats and swatting incidents. The president-elect’s transition team described the threats as “violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them.”
