CNN has updated its report that President Trump continues to use his personal cell phone to make calls, despite repeated concerns expressed by his staff that such phone calls leave the president vulnerable to surveillance by foreign governments.
In a tweet on Saturday, President Trump called upon "Fake News" CNN to retract the story that he describes as "totally false information and reporting." Trump also tweeted that he hasn't "had a personal cell phone for years" and only uses "government approved and issued phones."
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
One of the authors of the report responded to the president's tweet, stating CNN is standing by its report.
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
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But CNN did, however, update the original story to include "more information about the cell phones the President uses." What CNN apparently meant by "personal cell phone" is actually a government-approved cell phone that has been issued for the President to use. The report appears misleading at best because a government-approved phone that has been assigned to the president isn't exactly what comes to mind when people think about Trump's "personal cell phone."
So CNN thinks it's newsworthy that Trump is actually using a cell phone the government gave him to use? No wonder their ratings are in the tank.
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