Cheri Jacobus, a communications strategist who alleged that her personal email account was hacked during the 2016 presidential race, said that the FBI has referred their investigation into the matter to special counsel Robert Mueller’s office, Politico reported Tuesday.

Ms. Jacobus said FBI agents in the bureau’s cyber division notified her last month that they had passed along their hacking probe to Mr. Mueller, the special counsel leading the investigation into matters related to Russian efforts to meddle in the 2016 race, Politico reported.

It was not clear why the agents determined Mr. Mueller had jurisdiction over the matter, and representatives for both the FBI and special counsel’s office declined to comment, Politico reported.

A self-described “former Republican” critical of President Trump, Ms. Jacobus told Politico in August 2016 that she was hacked on the heels of her publicly opposing the GOP nominee for president, and that thousands of her messages had disappeared from her personal email account.

Ms. Jacobus later blamed Mr. Trump’s allies of being involved in the hack, and subsequent reporting suggested she had been the victim of a “catfishing” scam that targeting multiple Republican operatives dating back to late 2015.

The FBI’s hacking probe was launched prior to Mr. Mueller being appointed last May to examine alleged Russian election meddling and “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation.” Agents transferred their probe to the special counsel’s office after it exceeded the bounds of computer intrusion, Politico reported.

Mr. Mueller’s office has brought criminal charges against more than 30 people since starting its Russia probe, and prosecutors have secured guilty pleas from individuals including former 2016 Trump campaign advisers George Papadopoulos, Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort, among others.

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