A New York Times report claims that President Donald Trump uses three iPhones, two official and secure and one personal which is unsecured. And despite all their security measures, Trump’s phone calls are tapped by Russian and Chinese spies.
The report says that American spy agencies have learned that China and Russia are listening to all the phone calls made by the president and keep a tab on the people he talks with. Citing former officials, the report claims that China is using the information to prevent the trade war with the United States from escalating further.
American spy agencies, the officials said, had learned that China and Russia were eavesdropping on the president’s cellphone calls from human sources inside foreign governments and intercepting communications between foreign officials.
The report goes into detail as to how Trump’s security team is frustrated with him using iPhones for communication purposes. In recent times, they have pressured him into using the more secure White House landline, though Trump has still refused to give up his iPhones.
Trump, however, has refuted the report saying it is completely wrong and baseless.
The so-called experts on Trump over at the New York Times wrote a long and boring article on my cellphone usage that is so incorrect I do not have time here to correct it. I only use Government Phones, and have only one seldom used government cell phone. Story is soooo wrong!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 25, 2018
China itself has also denied all allegations made in the report and called it ‘fake news’. Ironically, the Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying recommended Trump to use a Huawei smartphone for additional security or to cut off all communications altogether.
If Trump is concerned about the security of his iPhone, he can consider switching over to a Huawei, or cut off communications altogether, Hua Chunying, the foreign ministry spokeswoman, said in response to a question about the Times report. She dismissed the report as another example of “fake news”.
“Seeing this report, I feel there are those in America who are working all-out to win the Oscar for best screenplay,” Hua said at the ministry’s regular briefing in Beijing on Thursday.
The comment from Hua Chunying is obviously sarcastic in nature since Huawei has been barred from the U.S. government to sell any kind of network equipment or even smartphones to the government. In fact, many carriers backed off from selling Huawei’s flagship smartphones in their retail stores due to political pressure.
Trump himself used an Android smartphone as his primary device before becoming the president. However, due to their less secure nature, he was forced to switch to an iPhone after he became the president. The official iPhones he carries are further secured by the NSA and stripped off almost all their core and ‘smart’ functionalities. That’s why Trump carries a personal iPhone in which he is able to access his contacts.
[Via New York Times, SCMP]
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