Trump Critical of New York Times Over ‘Fake Story’ on Mobile Phone Use

President Donald Trump criticized The New York Times on Oct. 25 for publishing what he called a “Fake Story” about China and Russia listening in on his mobile phone calls.

“The so-called experts on Trump over at the New York Times wrote a long and boring article on my cell phone usage that is so incorrect I do not have time here to correct it,” Trump said on Twitter.

For the first 15 paragraphs of its article, The New York Times describes the president’s phones only as “his iPhones.” In paragraph 16, the newspaper clarifies that two of them are government-issued and have been modified by the National Security Agency (NSA).

The newspaper alleges, citing anonymous “current and former American officials,” that Trump has a third iPhone that wasn’t modified by the NSA. Trump denied the claim.

“I only use Government Phones, and have only one seldom used government cell phone. Story is soooo wrong!” the president said.

The newspaper alleges, citing the same anonymous officials, that China and Russia are listening in on Trump’s calls. China, in particular, the newspaper alleges, uses what it learns in order to attempt to influence the president.

Trump said he was glad the newspaper “finally added China” to their narrative of foreign entities interfering with the U.S. government, referring to the ongoing efforts of the newspaper to sustain the narrative that the president and his associates colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election. Despite multiple investigations, no American has been accused of colluding with Russia.

“The New York Times has a new Fake Story that now the Russians and Chinese (glad they finally added China) are listening to all of my calls on cellphones,” Trump said on Twitter. “Except that I rarely use a cellphone, & when I do it’s government authorized. I like Hard Lines. Just more made up Fake News!”

The president often criticizes the N.Y. Times for its coverage of his administration and has called out numerous stories as “fake news.” Trump began referring to the newspaper as the “failing New York Times” as early as 2014.

So far this year, the president called out fake stories from the newspaper once in March, three times in April, and once in August.

In September, Trump demanded that the N.Y. Times reveal the name of the anonymous source who wrote an op-ed claiming to work from within the administration to undermine the president. The identity of the author still isn’t publicly known.

The newspaper endorsed Hillary Clinton for president in September 2016, and gave Clinton an 85 percent chance of winning the election.