Oops, Donald Trump was just caught in yet another lie.
Trump took to Twitter to respond to a recent New York Times [1] article that reported he routinely uses his unsecure iPhones to speak with friends and associates, instead of using a secure White House phone line.
“I only use Government Phones, and have only one seldom used government cell phone,” Trump said in a tweet sent from his account, adding “Story is soooo wrong!”
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. Except that I rarely use a cellphone, & when I do it’s government authorized. I like Hard Lines. Just more made up Fake News!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 25, 2018 [2]
While this is hardly the first time Trump has been critical of The New York Times’ reporting about him, eagle-eyed Twitter users quickly noticed something about the tweet itself: It was sent from an iPhone.
The Twitter app itself doesn’t reveal the platform a tweet was sent on, but the social network’s TweetDeck app does, which is how many discovered the tweet was sent from an iPhone.
The Times reported that Trump’s use of his iPhones to speak with friends allows Chinese and Russian to listen in on his calls to get an idea of what types of arguments are successful with the president, and who he trusts. The ability to compromise Trump’s calls isn’t a flaw of the iPhones themselves, but rather is a security issue stemming from cellular networks. The Times also stated that Trump has two iPhones: one for Twitter and other basic web apps, and one for making phone calls.