T1B

WASHINGTON — When President Trump calls old friends on one of his iPhones to gossip, gripe or solicit their latest take on how he is doing, American intelligence reports indicate that Chinese spies are often listening — and putting to use invaluable insights into how to best work the president and affect administration policy, current and former American officials said.

Mr. Trump’s aides have repeatedly warned him that his cellphone calls are not secure, and they have told him that Russian spies are routinely eavesdropping on the calls, as well. But aides say the voluble president, who has been pressured into using his secure White House landline more often these days, has still refused to give up his iPhones. White House officials say they can only hope he refrains from discussing classified information when he is on them.

Mr. Trump’s use of his iPhones was detailed by several current and former officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity so they could discuss classified intelligence and sensitive security arrangements. The 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.

American spy agencies, the officials said, had learned that China and Russia were eavesdropping on the president’s cellphone calls from human sources inside foreign governments and intercepting communications between foreign officials.

The officials said they have also determined that China is seeking to use what it is learning from the calls — how Mr. Trump thinks, what arguments tend to sway him and to whom he is inclined to listen — to keep a trade war with the United States from escalating further. In what amounts to a marriage of lobbying and espionage, the Chinese have pieced together a list of the people with whom Mr. Trump regularly speaks in hopes of using them to influence the president, the officials said.

Mr. Trump typically relies on his mobile phones when he does not want a call going through the White House switchboard and logged for senior aides to see, his aides said. Many of those Mr. Trump speaks with most often on one of his cellphones, such as hosts at Fox News, share the president’s political views, or simply enable his sense of grievance about any number of subjects.

Administration officials said Mr. Trump’s longtime paranoia about surveillance — well before coming to the White House he believed his phone conversations were often being recorded — gave them some comfort that he was not disclosing classified information on the calls. They said they had further confidence he was not spilling secrets because he rarely digs into the details of the intelligence he is shown and is not well versed in the operational specifics of military or covert activities.

atmdad wrote:Care to provide a link what you are quoting from?

Not you, you avocado hoarding Fallbrookian.

Screw_Michigan wrote:
It's really not that hard to figure out news from a legitimate source. You take the first sentence, paste it in a search engine, and click the link that applies.

Left Seater wrote:

Screw_Michigan wrote:
It's really not that hard to figure out news from a legitimate source. You take the first sentence, paste it in a search engine, and click the link that applies.

I laffed. We haven’t had a legitimate news source in well over a decade.

Kierland wrote: How convenient. That way you get to say what you want and believe what you want. No facts necessary.

Left Seater wrote:Fail. I tend to deal in facts, not feelings. Something the media on both sides forgot long ago.

Kierland wrote:And where do you get said “facts” then?

Left Seater wrote:Many different places. Sometimes from media, but you have to weigh the facts from one side against the facts from the other.

Screw_Michigan wrote:

Left Seater wrote:Fail. I tend to deal in facts, not feelings. Something the media on both sides forgot long ago.

Here's a fact for you: the GOP hates the press because the press reports the lies they tell voters. Case in point, how all these GOP asswipes who voted to kill Obamacare and want to strip pre-existing condition protection from the law are going around lying to voters that they want to keep pre-existing protection. Pieces of shit, every single one of them.

Screw_Michigan wrote:

Kierland wrote:And where do you get said “facts” then?

Breitbart, Daily Caller, National Review, 4chan, Buttspay, did I miss any?

Left Seater wrote:So you can’t follow along? No surprise you are confused.

Kierland wrote:

Screw_Michigan wrote:

Kierland wrote:And where do you get said “facts” then?

Breitbart, Daily Caller, National Review, 4chan, Buttspay, did I miss any?

Drudge, Limpdick, Heritage?

Screw_Michigan wrote:

Left Seater wrote:Fail. I tend to deal in facts, not feelings. Something the media on both sides forgot long ago.

Here's a fact for you: the GOP hates the press because the press tells the lies they sell to voters.