The FBI has informed one of President-elect Donald Trump’s lead attorneys that his cellphone was tapped by Chinese hackers, three sources familiar with the matter told CNN, as part of a wide-ranging operation targeting top Republicans and Democrats in US politics that has been underway for months.
The FBI informed the attorney, Todd Blanche, last week that the hackers were able to obtain some voice recordings and text messages from his phone, but that none of the information was related to Trump, one of the sources said. The FBI provided Blanche, who has had to start using a different number after the breach, what the hackers obtained, including communications with family, the source said.
CNN has reached out to the FBI for comment. ABC News first reported on Blanche being targeted.
Blanche is the second of two Trump attorneys believed to be targeted by foreign hackers. CNN reported in August that attorney Lindsey Halligan was targeted as part of a separate Iranian hacking effort, though the timing of that attempt and the extent of any breach of her devices or accounts remains unclear.
Chinese hackers have also targeted other top figures in Trump’s orbit, including Trump himself and the vice president-elect, Sen. JD Vance. Other targets included Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and son Eric Trump, members of the Harris-Walz campaign and members of the Biden administration, CNN previously reported.
The sophisticated hacking effort has unnerved national security officials because of the deep access that the Chinese hackers have gotten to prominent Americans’ call and phone records.
US officials investigating the hacking campaign, which came via intrusions at US telecom firms AT&T, Lumen and Verizon, consider it to be among the most concerning national security-related hacks in recent memory.
The scope of the hack is “way worse than the public knows,” and officials are still sifting through the intrusions to determine the impact, another source familiar with the intelligence previously told CNN.
The Chinese government has denied US allegations that it is behind the hack.
The Chinese spies have forced US government employees to take unusual security precautions. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, for example, has directed its employees to only use Microsoft Teams and Cisco WebEx to conduct work-related business involving non-public information, a CFPB spokesperson told CNN on Thursday.
There is no evidence that the CFPB has been specifically targeted by the hackers, the spokesperson said. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the CFPB security protocol.