The apparent hackers targeted Kash Patel's communications, but whether they succeeded and how much access they had to the data is still being investigated, the sources said.

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 Iranian hack attacks on Trump's associates.

The man picked for a top security role in Donald Trump’s administration is a children’s author who believes that the president-elect has been persecuted and undermined by the “deep state”.