White House believes Chief of Staff John Kelly's personal phone was breached as early...

midian182

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Just after he was inaugurated as president, there were concerns that Donald Trump was still using his old, unsecured Samsung Galaxy S3 to send out tweets. But it seems that his current chief of staff, John Kelly, had already fallen victim to hackers, who compromised his phone in an attack that potentially happened up to a month before Trump took office.

According to a new report from Politico that cites three US government officials, White House tech staff only found out about the suspected breach when Kelly handed in the phone this summer, complaining that it had been glitchy and not updating properly for months. It’s thought an attack could have occurred as far back as December 2016. White House aides circulated a memo regarding the situation last month.

The phone was Kelly’s own device, rather than his government-issued one. A White House spokesperson said he rarely used his personal phone since joining the administration, though “rarely” isn’t the same as never. They added that Kelly no longer possessed the handset.

Despite several days of “testing” by tech staff, it’s unclear how the phone was initially breached and, most importantly, whether any sensitive government information was accessed. We still don’t know what kind of device Kelly was using, though he has been seen with an iPhone in the past.

The news comes during an internal probe into senior White House officials, including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, using their personal emails while engaging in government business.

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Fake news! Benghazi! Everybody know's it was Hillary! Drain the swamp! Patriotism! Trump knows all the best people! He knows when to get rid of them too! Russia didn't hack Kelly's phone! It was the Demontards! Whew! Trump! Murca!
 
By acting all dumb, surprised and innocent by saying his phone was suddenly glitchy, not properly updating and couldn't understand why, is a far, far smarter move than saying "Hey guys, I fear my white box, Apple rip-off personal phone that I bought with money from a slush fund, from some obscure Chines e-tailer on an unsecured web site, for a bargain price, and had a lot of top secret government files saved to it that I know I wasn't supposed to have, was likely compromised while I was busy trying to chat up some Ruski chick for a one night stand, also on some shady, also unsecured dating site"... Which is probably closer to the real truth. Reasonably truthful, honest and morally correct politicians are about as common as unicorns.
 
Should have bought an iPhone or a Google Pixel device, both of which offer some semblance of guaranteed software updates for at least two years; something we should all be demanding from OEMs since we pay so darn much for these devices.

Really, where's that money that we're paying going? Oh yeah... I forgot, into the already overstuffed pockets of the good for nothing C-Level people at the top. And people wonder why I suggest people to get iPhones, at least you actually get something in return for paying out all that cash instead of just a "Hey, thanks for the cash! Goodbye now!"
 
Fake news! Benghazi! Everybody know's it was Hillary! Drain the swamp! Patriotism! Trump knows all the best people! He knows when to get rid of them too! Russia didn't hack Kelly's phone! It was the Demontards! Whew! Trump! Murca!

WOW ..... somebody needs a diaper change and a fresh Juice Box to cheer them up!
 
Fake news! Benghazi! Everybody know's it was Hillary! Drain the swamp! Patriotism! Trump knows all the best people! He knows when to get rid of them too! Russia didn't hack Kelly's phone! It was the Demontards! Whew! Trump! Murca!
ROTFLOL!
By acting all dumb, surprised and innocent by saying his phone was suddenly glitchy, not properly updating and couldn't understand why<...>
IMHO, the more disturbing thought is that he is actually all dumb and surprised - not, of course, that I do not agree with you that an honest politician is a very rare animal these days.

And even more disturbing, is that now that dishonesty is electable, all the riff-raff are considering runs for office.
 
ROTFLOL!

IMHO, the more disturbing thought is that he is actually all dumb and surprised - not, of course, that I do not agree with you that an honest politician is a very rare animal these days.

And even more disturbing, is that now that dishonesty is electable, all the riff-raff are considering runs for office.
There was a song called Americano's sung by Holly Johnson wherein he sings "Where a kid without a cent can grow up to be president"? If anyone believes that then they'd believe anything. The last American president to be elected to office that came from a poor background was Harry S. Truman, I think, and I'm lead to believe he was a man with integrity and morals despite authorising the atomic bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima which was justified. Times have changed since then and there's absolutely no chance that anyone who comes from a poor background and has learned the values of life will ever sit in the Oval Office ever again. Now it's only strictly about money, power, ruthlessness, unscrupulousness and a charming smile. If you're not fortunate enough have the first commodity, you can forget about everything else no matter how good a president you'd make but it's the same everywhere in the world today.
 
Fake news! Benghazi! Everybody know's it was Hillary! Drain the swamp! Patriotism! Trump knows all the best people! He knows when to get rid of them too! Russia didn't hack Kelly's phone! It was the Demontards! Whew! Trump! Murca!

That just about covers all the typical wing-nut talking points. Thanks for getting it out of the way.
 
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