Trump lawyer informed by FBI his telephone was focused by Chinese hackers, report says
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Todd Blanche, an attorney who represented Donald Trump in his hush money trial, was reportedly one of the individuals whose phones were targeted by Chinesehackers.
The FBI informed Blanche of the breach last week, sources familiar with the matter told CNN. The hackers were able to obtain voice recordings and text messages from the device phone, none of the information was related to the president-elect, one of the sources said.
The Bureau also reported that communications with Blanche’s family had also been accessed from the phone, CNNsaid. Blanche has reportedly been using a different number since the incident.
Blanche was part of the defense team for Trump in his Mar-a-Lago classified documents case, in Florida, and also the high-profile hush money case. Trump subsequently became the first former president, and now president-elect, to have been convicted of criminal charges.
The attorney is allegedly being considered for assistant attorney general, White House counsel or FBI director.
Blanche is the second of two Trump attorneys believed to be targeted by foreign hackers, further details of which emerged last month.
CNNreported 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.
Last month The New York Times reported that multiple people in Trump’s inner-circle, including JD Vance and the president-elect himself, may also have been the target of Chinese hackers.
Investigators from national security agencies including the FBI informed the Trump campaign that phone numbers had been targeted through the infiltration of Verizon phone systems.
Data that may have been accessed by the hackers includes who those targeted have called and texted, how often they communicated with certain people, and how long they talked to those people.
Such information could be highly valuable to countries such as China. Even without the content of messages, the data could be used to identify those close to Trump and Vance, including people such as Blanche.
The Independent has contacted Blanche for comment on the alleged data breach.
Source: independent.co.uk
