In a recent statement, Donald Trump disputed a New York Timesreport that alleged that the US president’s recent phone calls with personal friends were intercepted by Russian and Chinese intelligence agencies. “I only use Government Phones, and have only one rarely used government cell phone,” Trump said in a Tweet he posted on his personal iPhone. “Story is soooo wrong!”
Without citing its sources, the New York Times claims that Trump's aides have warned him not to use his personal device for phone calls, as it could be monitored by Russian spies. Trump's response, again via Tweet, is that the article in question is long and boring, and that it is so wrong that he will not bother to deal with it.
The president is not willing to give up his iPhone, which he uses quite often to contact personal friends. His advisers hope that no confidential information is disclosed during these calls.
Trump has said in the past that he avoids phone calls when it comes to very sensitive matters and that he does not use email. Finally, Trump's stance contrasts with Barack Obama's stance on security. For a long time, Barack Obama used a specially designed BlackBerry, from which many features were removed, precisely so that someone could not intercept information. He later replaced his device with an iPhone, which had similar restrictions.
