Chinese hackers have successfully infiltrated the phone of Todd Blanche, one of President-elect Donald Trump’s top lawyers. According to CNN’s sources, the FBI recently informed Blanche that his cellphone was tapped in a large-scale operation by Chinese hackers, which has targeted high-ranking Republicans and Democrats in Washington, D.C. for months.
The hackers managed to get a hold of some voice recordings and text messages from Blanche’s phone. However, none of the stolen information seems directly related to Trump, according to sources. After the breach, the FBI advised Blanche to switch phone numbers. They also shared the compromised information with him, which included private communications with his family.
Blanche isn’t the first Trump lawyer to be targeted by foreign hackers. Another of Trump’s attorneys, Lindsey Halligan, was hacked earlier by a group believed to be connected to Iran. While it’s unclear how much of Halligan’s information was stolen, the hacking attempts on Trump’s legal team appear to be part of a larger, coordinated effort to gather intelligence on influential American politicians and their closest allies.
Chinese hackers didn’t just stop with Trump’s lawyers. They have reportedly also targeted Trump himself, Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, and other key figures, including Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner and son Eric Trump. Even members of the Harris-Walz campaign and current Biden administration officials have been affected. This relentless and sophisticated hacking campaign has deeply alarmed national security officials, who are concerned about the extent of the hackers’ access to private calls and messages of prominent Americans.
The hackers managed to penetrate major US telecom companies—like AT&T, Lumen, and Verizon—to carry out this wide-reaching attack. Investigators are still trying to understand the full impact of the breach, but one source suggests that the situation is “far worse than the public knows.”
In response to the threat, some government agencies are now taking extra security measures. For example, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has instructed its employees to use only specific, secure platforms like Microsoft Teams and Cisco WebEx for work that involves sensitive information. Although there’s no evidence that the CFPB itself was specifically targeted, this unusual precaution highlights just how seriously these agencies are taking the threat.
The Chinese government has denied any involvement in the hacking campaign, but US officials consider it one of the most concerning national security breaches in recent memory. They continue to investigate, trying to piece together how this hack was executed and what it means for national security. The situation is unfolding, with officials and the public anxiously watching for updates on this high-stakes cyber operation.
