Hackers breached FBI Director Kash Patel’s emails prior to tenure as director: Sources
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel testifies during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats in the Hart Senate Office Building on March 18, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Hackers breached FBI Director Kash Patel’s personal email, according to sources familiar with the situation.
The majority of the emails were from prior to 2019, according to sources, and appear to be from before his tenure at the FBI. There were a few emails from 2022, sources told ABC News.
“The FBI is aware of malicious actors targeting Director Patel’s personal email information, and we have taken all necessary steps to mitigate potential risks associated with this activity. The information in question is historical in nature and involves no government information,” the FBI said in a statement Friday.
It is unclear which country hacked the director’s old emails, however, Iranian-linked hackers online have claimed credit for the hack.
“The Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program offers up to a $10 million reward for information leading to the identification of the Handala Hack Team out of Iran — a group that has frequently targeted U.S. government officials,” the FBI said.
Reuters was the first to report the breach.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
A still from video that federal prosecutors say shows Michael Marx running from U.S. Secret Service officers. (Department of Justice)
(WASHINGTON) — A 45-year-old Texas man has been charged in connection with a shooting near the Washington Monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in which a teenage bystander was hit by gunfire, federal prosecutors announced Wednesday.
Michael Marx faces three charges in connection with Monday’s shooting — felony assault of federal officers with a dangerous weapon, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence and unlawful possession of a firearm, the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The complaint includes new images from CCTV showing the frantic scene during the shooting, which occurred at a busy intersection where multiple civilians were crossing the street Monday afternoon.
After a plainclothes Secret Service agent observed Marx in possession of a firearm, several uniformed Secret Service officers responded and located the suspect at 15th Street and Independence Avenue SW, at the time Vice President JD Vance’s motorcade was departing the White House, according to the complaint.
Officers gave “verbal commands” to the suspect, who began to run, according to the complaint. As officers chased him, the suspect pulled a firearm from his waistband while running and began firing toward one of them once he reached the sidewalk, according to the complaint. A bystander behind the officer was struck in the leg, it said.
Officers returned fire, striking Marx in his hand, left arm and upper abdomen and collapsed at the intersection, according to the complaint.
Investigators recovered a handgun loaded with 9mm ammunition from the area where Marx fell, according to federal prosecutors. He does not hold a license to carry a handgun in Washington, they said.
As U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro first told ABC News on Tuesday, Marx allegedly made statements to officers, including “F— the White House” and “Kill me, kill me, kill me,” while being transported in an ambulance to a hospital.
“We will prove this defendant carried an illegal firearm into the heart of Washington, D.C., opened fire at Secret Service officers near a crowded intersection, and shot an innocent bystander who was simply crossing the street with his family,” Pirro said in a statement Wednesday. “My office will pursue the most serious charges available against anyone who brings gun violence to our streets, particularly when that violence unfolds steps from the seat of our government and the path of the Vice President of the United States.”
Court records do not list any attorney information for Marx at this time.
The teen injured in the shooting has since been released from the hospital, Pirro told ABC News.
Severe weather outlook for Saturday, April 25, 2026. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — A severe weather threat is shifting back to parts of Kansas and Oklahoma on Saturday after damaging winds, hail and tornadoes impacted the region over the past week.
A level 4 of 5 “moderate risk” has been added for southeast Oklahoma, including Ada and McAlester, for the potential for very large hail (larger than baseballs), strong tornadoes, and damaging winds.
A level 3 of 5 “enhanced risk” is up for northeastern Oklahoma and far eastern Arkansas, including Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Broken Bow and Enid, in Oklahoma, and Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Damaging winds and very large hail are the primary threats with these storms, but a few tornadoes, some potentially strong, cannot be ruled out with these storms.
This will be a later day event, with storms not likely to begin firing off until after at least 3:00 p.m. CT. Once storms get going, the atmosphere will be very favorable for discrete storms to intensify across eastern Oklahoma going into the evening hours.
Storms will continue to fire off during the evening up to just after sunset and will continue through the overnight hours across eastern Oklahoma, far northeast Texas and western Arkansas.
Beginning Sunday, a potent storm system will form southeast of the Rockies and swing northeast across the Plains, bringing more severe weather to the Plains on Sunday before the severe weather threat spreads northeast and stretches into the Midwest on Monday.
Almost 50 million Americans will be on alert for severe storms on Sunday or Monday – almost 8 million for Sunday, and almost 40 million for Monday.
For Sunday, a level 3 of 5 “enhanced risk” is up for much of Kansas as well as portions of western Missouri, including Wichita and Kansas City. Tornadoes, some being strong, as well as damaging winds and large hail are all possible with storms in this area.
A level 2 of 5 “slight risk” is also up for parts of northern Texas, northwestern Arkansas, western Missouri, far southwest Iowa, southern Nebraska, most of Oklahoma and much of the remaining areas of Kansas.
Like Saturday, severe storms will likely not begin firing off until the late afternoon. When storms do get going though during the evening, the atmosphere will be favorable for discrete thunderstorms to grow and intensify, producing tornadoes (some possibly strong), damaging winds and large hail.
For Monday, the severe weather threat spreads northeast and stretches from the lower Mississippi River valley up to the Midwest for Monday. A level 3 of 5 “enhanced risk” is up for cities like St. Louis; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Jonesboro, Arkansas; Evansville, Indiana; Paducah, Kentucky; and Rockford, Illinois.
A level 2 of 5 “slight risk” is up for cities like Memphis; Louisville, Kentucky; Chicago; South Bend, Indiana; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Mason City, IIowa.
While there is some uncertainty in exact timing and setup with Monday’s storms, the potential for tornadoes with some being strong, as well as widespread damaging wind gusts, large hail, and spotty flash flooding is increasing for Monday for these areas.
With any discrete supercell thunderstorms that form and maintain themselves in this atmosphere, the “tornadic potential could maximize, with a few long track, particularly damaging tornadoes possible,” according to the NWS Storm Prediction Center.
This will likely be a late afternoon and evening setup regardless, with discrete storms or clusters of storms tracking in a line from Milwaukee and Chicago down to St. Louis and into northern Arkansas around the evening commute on Monday.
These storms will sweep east into the overnight hours, with Indianapolis; Paducah, Kentucky; and Memphis likely seeing storms later in the evening.
This storm system will also bring heavy rain to the central U.S., with some of it possibly falling in a short time with the heaviest storms. Because of this, isolated flash flooding is possible with these storms into the new week.
Heavy rain will also come to the Great Lakes on Monday, which could reinvigorate the flood risk given how saturated the ground still is from the historic rainfall from a few weeks ago combined with rapid snowmelt.
For Tuesday, we can see the severe weather threat shift to parts of the South as this potent system continues to move east. Places like Memphis; Little Rock, Arkansas; Tyler, Texas; Shreveport, Louisiana; and Jackson, Mississippi, will have to watch for potential severe weather later in the day.
Some showers, humidity in the Southeast The drought in the Southeast continues to worsen as two wildfires continue to burn in southeast Georgia.
Some rounds of rain and possibly isolated thunderstorms will move into the region later today and late Monday into Tuesday, with each round bringing around 0.5 to 1 inch of rain.
The rain will not tame the wildfires alone, especially if it doesn’t fall directly where the fires are. If there are any isolated thunderstorms, there is the chance that lightning could ignite additional wildfires in the already dry region.
However, the increased humidities and any rain that does fall on the fires this weekend into early next week will help with controlling ongoing fires and quickly manage any new fires if any should occur.
The rain will not make much of a dent on the drought situation across the region. For example, Georgia needs between 12 and 18 inches of rainfall to end the current drought.
The two notable fires in southeast Georgia, the Pineland Road Fire and the Highway 82 Brantley County Fire, continue to burn.
Meanwhile, the fire threat will be in the southern High Plains this weekend. Parts of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, as well as the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma are under fire weather alerts this weekend.
Iranian national flag waved by a protester in front of a hospital damaged in a U.S.-Israeli strike, in Tehran, Iran. (Photo by Shadati/Xinhua via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A newly surfaced video appears to show a U.S.-made missile hitting a building in Iran adjacent to a girls’ school where local officials say 168 people were killed, experts told ABC News.
The eyewitness video was first posted Sunday morning by the Iranian outlet Mehr News, and then shared online by Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician, who now works as a researcher with the investigative group Bellingcat.
Ball said in a post on X that the video showed a U.S.-made Tomahawk missile.
ABC News geolocated the video adjacent to the site of the deadly Feb. 28 strike, in which several buildings connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were destroyed along with a nearby building housing a school for girls.
The missile seen impacting in the video is not hitting the girls’ school but another building in the IRGC complex. Experts told ABC News the missile has the characteristics of a Tomahawk, which is used by the United States and is not known to be fielded by Iran or Israel.
Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, told ABC News that the size and shape of the missile resemble the Tomahawk.
“I do believe this points towards U.S. responsibility for the strike in the area,” he said.
N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, also said the munition seen in the video appeared to be a Tomahawk.
“That indicates it is a U.S. strike,” he said.
Jenzen-Jones earlier cautioned that attributing responsibility for the strike on the nearby school would be difficult without access to munition fragments. He said the new video was still not proof as to who was responsible for striking the school.
“We can only be definitive about the one in the video. Of course, it makes it more likely the surrounding targets were hit by the U.S., but it doesn’t give certainty,” he said.
ABC News has reached out to the Pentagon for a comment.
