Kashyap “Kash” Patel, President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for FBI director, was among the targets of an Iranian hack, CNN reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter.
Iranian hackers accessed some of Patel’s communications, according to the media outlet. “Kash Patel played a key role in the first Trump administration’s efforts against the Iranian terrorist regime and will implement President Trump’s policies to protect America from adversaries as FBI Director,” said Alex Pfeiffer, spokesperson for the Trump transition team, in a statement to CNN. .
Alex Brandon/AP
News week contacted Pfeiffer for comment Tuesday evening.
This is not the first time the Trump campaign has been the target of hacking by state actors. The New York Times reported in October that Chinese hackers attempted to access data from the phones of Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance, as well as those belonging to Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign staff.
Patel is a fierce ally of Trump, and in nominating him, Trump praised Patel for doing an “incredible job during my first term, where he served as chief of staff at the Department of Defense, deputy director of national intelligence and senior director of Counterterrorism at the National Security Council.”
The president-elect went on to say that Patel played a “central role” in “uncovering the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax,” adding that it was a key factor in his decision to recruit him to lead the FBI.
Patel has publicly spoken out against the “deep state” political establishment and called for eliminating government employees deemed insufficiently loyal to Trump. He singled out many of these people in his book, Government Gangsters: The Deep State, the Truth, and the Battle for Our Democracy“, published in September 2023.
The list includes dozens of current and former government officials, some of whom didn’t know they were on it until it was flagged on social media this week.
“I just found out I’m included on this list,” former Justice Department spokeswoman Sarah Isgur, who worked under Trump, said Monday on X, formerly Twitter. “I have never met Patel or attended any meetings where he was present, to my knowledge.”
Patel’s nomination drew mixed reactions from Republican senators, who will determine whether he will be confirmed as FBI director.
“I have to say that all the weeping and gnashing of teeth, all the people tearing their hair out, are exactly the people who are dismayed to see a true reformer come into the FBI and clean out the corrupt supporters who have unfortunately buried leadership positions at the FBI,” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said Sunday. Take on the Nation with Margaret Brennan.
Tennessee US Senator Bill Hagerty told NBC Meet the press that he encouraged Trump to nominate Patel, adding that he “represents the type of change we need to see at the FBI.”
South Dakota U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds took a more measured tone, throwing his support behind FBI Director Christopher Wray, whom Trump appointed in 2017.
“I think the president chose a very good man to lead the FBI in his first term,” Rounds said. ABCIt is This week.
“I have no complaints with the way he’s doing his job at the moment,” Rounds added.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
