Kash Patel, US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for the FBI chief, has been allegedly targeted by hackers from Iran, media reports said.
Hackers are believed to have accessed at least some of Patel’s communications, sources told CNN.
In a statement issued to CNN, Trump transition spokesman Alex 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.”
However, the spokesperson did not specifically mention the attack.
The Indian-American Pentagon official is a Trump loyalist, who has championed the cause to dismantle the “deep state” within the government.
“Kash is a brilliant lawyer, investigator, and ‘America First’ fighter who has spent his career exposing corruption, defending Justice, and protecting the American People,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social, his social media platform.
Who is Kash Patel?
Kashyap Patel was born in 1980 in New York to Indian parents who had immigrated to the United States through Canada from Gujarat.
He received a degree in criminal justice and history from the University of Richmond in 2002.
Two years later, he received a certificate in international law from the University College London in the UK and a graduate-entry professional duty from Pace University School of Law in 2005.
He worked as a public defender in Florida for eight years after graduating in 2005.
Patel was hired as a trial attorney in the US Department of Justice National Security Division in 2014.
Three years later, he was appointed senior counsel on counterterrorism at the House Select Committee on Intelligence.
In 2017, Patel significantly became the senior committee aide to House Intelligence Committee chair Devin Nunes.
He has reportedly played a role in Republicans’ opposition to the probe into Trump and Russia’s interference in the 2016 US polls.
He worked as a senior counsel at the House Reform and Oversight Committee after the Democrats took control over the House of Representatives in 2019.
