President Trump’s iPhone Being Spied on by Russia and China: NYT

Intelligence reports indicate that Russian and Chinese spies are listening in on President Donald Trump‘s phone calls on his iPhone.

Associated Press

According to a new post from the New York Times, American intelligence officials believe that US President Donald Trump’s iPhone calls to old friends and business associates are being monitored by Chinese and Russian spies for information on policy and how the President thinks.

“China’s effort is a 21st-century version of what officials there have been doing for many decades, which is trying to influence American leaders by cultivating an informal network of prominent business people and academics who can be sold on ideas and policy prescriptions and then carry them to the White House,” reads the report. Knowing what Trump says on the phone makes this job easier, say officials.

Trump reportedly has three iPhones, but only two of them are equipped with security features that have been added by the National Security Agency — one of the secure phones is strictly intended for tweeting, and only over Wi-Fi networks.

His third phone, however, is said to be as unsecured as any regular old iPhone. Former administration officials said that in spite of their repeated warnings that spies might listen into his calls, Trump refused to give up the phone, and kept using it as usual. The president apparently likes to keep his personal iPhone around reportedly because “he can store his contacts in it.”

The NYT doesn’t describe the eavesdropping in much detail other than to say “the calls made from the phones are intercepted as they travel through cell towers, cables, and switches that make up national and international cell phone networks. Calls made from any cell phone—iPhone, Android, and old-school Samsung flip phones—are vulnerable.”

“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,” Trump tweeted Thursday morning in response to the article. “I only use Government Phones, and have only one seldom used government cell phone. Story is soooo wrong!”

But hours later, he revisited the topic, calling his use of cellphones rare and in any case “government authorized.”

“The New York Times has a new Fake Story that now the Russians and Chinese (glad they finally added China) are listening to all of my calls on cellphones,” Trump tweeted. “Except that I rarely use a cellphone, & when I do it’s government authorized. I like Hard Lines. Just more made up Fake News!”

Responding to the NYT report, Hua Chunying, deputy director of the Chinese foreign ministry information department suggested that Trump switch to Huawei.

“If they are very worried about iPhones being tapped, they can use Huawei,” she said. “Seeing this report, I feel there are those in America who are working all-out to win the Oscar for best screenplay.”

P.S. - Like our news? Support the site with a coffee/beer. Or shop with our Amazon link. We use affiliate links when possible--thank you for supporting independent media.