Comedian Whitney Cummings kicked off her stint as a guest host on The View by roasting FBI Director Kash Patel.
Cummings, 43, showed no sympathy for Patel after the FBI director’s private messages and photos were leaked by Iranian hacking group Handala, and instead went straight for the jugular.
“I mean, if Kash wanted his emails not to get released, he should have just CC’ed Jeffrey Epstein on them,” the actress quipped, keeping a deadpan expression for the camera.
Her fellow co-hosts approved of Cummings’ joke, with Whoopi Goldberg responding, “Well said,” and Sunny Hostin adding, “correct.”
Cummings is one of several guest hosts filling in for Alyssa Farah Griffin during her maternity leave. The actress and comedian is known for co-creating the sitcom 2 Broke Girls.
The View panelists continued to discuss the incident more seriously, berating Patel’s apparent lack of digital security. Hostin said, “It’s a little scary that the head of the FBI – someone that was with the federal public defender and someone that has been responsible and worked in counterintelligence and counterterrorism – has a Gmail account that’s able to be hacked."
“Of course, we know that he is unqualified,” Hostin continued, “But now he’s making the country less safe.”
The content leaked from Patel’s email appeared to predate his tenure as the FBI’s leader. The FBI told the Daily Beast that the “information in question is historical in nature and involves no government information.”
The bureau also said that it had “taken all necessary steps to mitigate potential risks associated with this activity.”
Images display Patel partaking in various activities: smoking cigars, standing next to a jet, and taking a selfie with a bottle of rum. The hackers also released more than 300 emails, dating from 2010 to 2019. The address linked to the emails was associated with Patel in previous hacks, The Guardian reports.
Handala issued a statement after releasing the pictures, in which they said, “Today, once again, the world witnessed the collapse of America’s so-called security legends.”
The hackers boasted that the “so-called ‘impenetrable’ systems of the FBI were brought to their knees within hours by our team.” The leaks occurred in retaliation after the FBI seized four of its domains on March 19, and offered a $10 million reward for information on the group’s members. Handala deemed this a “ridiculous show” on the FBI’s part.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the FBI for comment.
