In our news wrap Friday, a pro-Iranian and pro-Palestinian hacking group claims it breached an email account belonging to FBI Director Kash Patel, lawyers representing Fulton County asked a federal court to order the FBI to return 2020 election ballots and records seized in a January raid and stocks closed out their worst week since the Iran war began, the fifth straight losing week.
John Yang:
In the day’s other headlines: A pro-Iranian and pro-Palestinian hacking group claims it breached an e-mail account belonging to FBI Director Kash Patel. The group said they accessed Patel’s personal e-mail and published what appeared to be photographs of him, as well as work and travel documents. Most of them are more than a decade old.
Within hours, the FBI said it had taken all necessary steps to mitigate potential risks and that no government information was involved. It’s not clear when the hack might have occurred.
Lawyers representing Fulton County, Georgia, asked a federal court today to order the FBI to return 2020 election ballots and other records seized in a late January raid. FBI agents serving a criminal warrant took more than 650 boxes of 2020 documents from a warehouse near Atlanta.
Today, Justice Department lawyers said they were cooperative and had provided the county with digital copies of everything taken. Fulton County’s lawyer, Abbe Lowell, argued that the FBI is pursuing crimes for which the statute of limitations has expired. Fulton County has been at the center of President Donald Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen.
The bipartisan House Ethics Committee said today that Florida Democratic Representative Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick violated more than two dozen House rules and federal campaign finance laws. As a result, there could be a vote in the House to expel her from Congress.
Cherfilus-McCormick also faces criminal charges for misusing millions of dollars of taxpayer money. If convicted, she could face up to 53 years in prison. The Ethics Committee will recommend a punishment in the coming weeks. Cherfilus-McCormick has denied any wrongdoing, and after today’s decision, she said: “I look forward to proving my innocence.”
Vice President J.D. Vance presided over the first meeting of the Trump administration’s new Anti-Fraud Task Force today. Vance and Vice Chair Andrew Ferguson, who’s head of the Federal Trade Commission, said the task force would focus on prosecuting and preventing fraud with a whole government approach.
J.D. Vance, Vice President of the United States: What we’re going to actually do is force the bureaucracy to take this seriously and work together as political principals to make sure that we stop allowing fraudsters to steal the American people’s money.
John Yang:
The inaugural meeting comes as the administration is targeting Minnesota, saying there’s fraud in the state’s social services programs. It prompted the administration to crack down on the illegal immigration of the Twin Cities and withhold some Medicaid funds. Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said the state is the target of a campaign of retribution.
Turning overseas, Austria is now the latest nation to draw up sweeping social media restrictions for young people. The nation’s governing coalition agreed in principle to ban social media for children under the age of 14. High-tech methods of age verification would be employed. Officials said legislation will be drafted by the end of June.
Andreas Babler, Vice Chancellor of Austria (through interpreter): The risks associated with excessive social media use range from low self-esteem and addictive behavior to cyber-bullying, which is to say, mobbing, loneliness, and, in the most tragic cases, even suicide. What we wouldn’t tolerate in person, we shouldn’t accept in the digital world either.
John Yang:
The Austrian government also plans to teach media literacy and dealing with artificial intelligence in schools. In 2024, Australia passed the first social media ban for children under 16. Since then, France, Spain, Denmark, and other nations have announced plans of their own.
And, on Wall Street, stocks closed out their worst week since the Iran war began, the fifth straight losing week. The Dow Jones industrial average lost nearly 800 points, or 1.7 percent. The Nasdaq plummeted by more than 2 percent, and the S&P 500 also finished firmly in the red.
