Trump says FBI ‘must get Apple to open’ would-be assassins’ phones

Apple is again at the center of a privacy controversy involving the FBI and locked phones. This time, comments by former president Donald Trump at a Wednesday rally have brought the issue back to the front of public discussion, as he put responsibility on Apple to aid the investigation.

Several outlets reported Wednesday that Trump made comments at a North Carolina rally calling on the FBI to pressure Apple into unlocking his attempted assassins’ apps and phones:

“They must get Apple to open the foreign apps, and they must get Apple to likewise open the six phones from the second lunatic.”

Trump is referring to phones confiscated by the FBI from both of his would-be assassins.

Stephanie Lai explains at Bloomberg:

The former president said that the FBI had been unable to access “three potentially foreign-based apps” on the phone of Thomas Matthew Crooks, the Pennsylvania man who shot at and grazed Trump’s ear during a rally in July.

Trump also said that alleged would-be assassin Ryan Wesley Routh, who was captured after a shootout with US Secret Service at Trump’s Florida golf club, had six cell phones that the FBI had “likewise been unable to penetrate.”

The FBI has not shared any further details in this case. Previously, reported indicated that Crooks’ phone was a Samsung, however. And as far as I am aware, there has not been official comment on whether Routh’s devices are iPhones or not. But per Trump’s comments, it seems that they might be.

It is unclear what Apple could do to help open apps on a Samsung phone, or if perhaps the initial reporting on the device’s identity was incorrect. In any case, Trump’s calls for Apple’s involvement could lead to another public controversy involving the FBI.

Context that led to this moment

Back in July, the FBI announced they had successfully gained access to Crooks’ phone. But per Trump’s remarks, it seems certain encrypted apps may be the issue, not the phone’s OS itself. It is unclear whether Routh’s six devices are presenting the same challenge, but it sounds as though they haven’t been accessed at all yet.

Because details are so few at this point, reporting has been a bit scattered. Generally, it is believed that encrypted messaging apps were involved in the FBI’s investigation. And some reporting mentions encrypted foreign accounts, too.

Apple, for its part, has historically held firm that it cannot build tools to access locked iPhones or encrypted data without compromising the privacy and security of its entire user base.