President Trump has called on CNN to retract a story asserting that he uses a personal cellphone to make calls despite security risks.
Trump publicly denied the report and called for a retraction on Twitter on Friday soon after CNN published the story. Trump denied even owning a personal cellphone.
“Fake News CNN is reporting that I am ‘still using personal cell phone for calls despite repeated security warnings.’ This is totally false information and reporting,” Trump wrote. “I haven’t had a personal cell phone for years. Only use government approved and issued phones. Retract!”
Fake News @CNN is reporting that I am “still using personal cell phone for calls despite repeated security warnings.” This is totally false information and reporting. I haven’t had a personal cell phone for years. Only use government approved and issued phones. Retract!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 7, 2019
The CNN report states that Trump has used an unsecured line to conduct presidential business despite repeated warnings from his staff and security experts. The report cites “multiple” anonymous officials.
After Trump publicly denied the report, one of the authors of the story, CNN reporter Zachary Cohen, responded to Trump via Twitter standing by the story.
We stand by our story, which you can read here from me, @kaitlancollins & @maeganvaz: https://t.co/kXY0HCobjW https://t.co/XH95gdlLkZ
— Zachary Cohen (@ZcohenCNN) December 7, 2019
