Ousted White House aide Omarosa Manigault-Newman on Thursday blasted President Donald Trump‘s denial of a New York Times report alleging he uses his personal iPhones for calls, despite repeated warnings of bugging by Chinese and Russian intelligence.
The report, published last week, stated that U.S. intelligence reports show that Chinese and Russian operatives often eavesdrop on the president’s iPhone calls, gaining insights on how to influence him and his administration’s policies. Trump’s aides have reportedly cautioned him against making calls on his unsecure cellphones and have instructed him to use the White House landline instead.
The president has still refused to give up his iPhones, however.
“Mr. Trump’s use of his iPhones was detailed by several current and former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so that they could discuss classified intelligence and sensitive security arrangements,” according to the Times’ report. “Officials said they were doing so not to undermine Mr. Trump, but out of frustration with what they considered the president’s casual approach to electronic security.”
Trump didn’t take too kindly to the article, calling it “boring” and “incorrect.”
“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,” he wrote on Twitter on Thursday. “I only use Government Phones, and have only one seldom used government cell phone. Story is soooo wrong!”
“I rarely use a cell phone,” the president added — despite his tweets clearly being sent from an iPhone. “And when I do, it’s government authorized. I like Hard Lines. Just more made up Fake News!”
But the Times seemed to have gotten it right, at least according to Manigualt-Newman, who had a longstanding friendship with Trump prior to her firing last year.
“Clearly #45 memory is fading fast … He ALWAYS used his personal iPhone in WH for calls even after being told over and over again about the security risk,” she tweeted in response to Trump’s claims. “He disliked his secure gov issued cell; he said it was slow and ‘buggy.’”
The two engaged in an all-out feud earlier this year after Manigualt-Newman made several bombshell claims in her tell-all book “Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House,” where she detailed her firing by Chief of Staff John Kelly and alleged there was a recording of Trump using the N-word on the set of “The Apprentice.” She also claimed she noticed early signs of mental decline in the POTUS.
The president’s “mental decline could not be denied,” she wrote. ““Any time somebody new came in to brief him, he’d get angry and say, ‘Who’s that guy? What’s he want?’”
The Trump White House has viciously denied the claims, with the president likening Manigault-Newman to a “dog.”
