Kash Patel, President-elect Trump’s pick for FBI director, at an October event in Las Vegas, Nevada. Photo: Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images
Kash Patel, President-elect Trump’s pick for FBI director, was targeted in an Iranian cyber attack, Semafor first reported on Tuesday evening.
Why it matters: This would mark the latest in a series of alleged Iranian hack attacks on Trump’s associates.
- Federal officials have been investigating allegations of Iran-based hackings on Trump allies since the summer and prosecutors charged three Iranians in September in connection with a cyberattack on his 2024 election campaign.
State of play: Patel’s communications were targeted during the cyberattack, according to CNN and CBS News.
- An FBI spokesperson declined to comment on this specific incident, but referred Axios to an August statement from the FBI, ODNI and CISA noting there had been “activities to compromise former President Trump’s campaign,” which the intelligence community “attributes to Iran.”
- Both Microsoft and Google released reports in the leadup to the 2024 election that found Iran-backed hackers had embarked on phishing attacks targeting U.S. election campaigns, and OpenAI said it deactivated a cluster of ChatGPT accounts linked to an Iranian disinformation operation.
- The indictment against the three suspected employees of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps accused of the 2024 cyberattack alleges a malicious cyber campaign dating back to January 2020 — when Trump authorized a drone strike that killed Iran’s top general Qasem Soleimani.
- Iranian officials have previously denied such allegations and they did not immediately comment on the latest report.
What they’re saying: “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,” said Trump transition spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer in an emailed statement on Tuesday night that did not detail what happened to the nominee.
Background: Patel is a hardline MAGA ally who served in Trump’s National Security Council during his first term, as an adviser to the acting director of national intelligence and as chief of staff to former Defense Secretary Chris Miller.
Flashback: U.S. says Iran sent Biden camp stolen Trump info in election interference bid
Editor’s note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.
