It’s uncalled for
Don stuns security pros by giving out cell number
PRESIDENT TRUMP to world leaders: Call me on my cell phone.
The leader of the free world is sharing his personal digits with some fellow heads of state and extending an informal invite to give him a ring, The Associated Press reported on Tuesday.
Trump urged both Canadian and Mexican leaders to call his cell phone, former and current U.S. officials told the news agency.
The officials said only Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has taken Trump up on his offer.
The bizarre request breaks diplomatic protocol and could make Trump’s calls prone to foreign surveillance, according to national security experts.
Trump also exchanged numbers with French President Emmanuel Macron after his election victory this month, a French official told the AP.
But the official would not comment on whether Macron — who met Trump for the first time overseas with an aggressive handshake — plans to call his American counterpart.
Trump’s phone use gathered heightened scrutiny and parody during the presidential election, including a bizarre appearance on “Saturday Night Live” with a spoof of Drake’s “Hotline Bling.” Trump often uses
his mobile device to hurl insults at political foes on Twitter, but the latest revelation suggests a new level of hypocrisy. He famously lambasted rival Hillary Clinton for using a private email server during the presidential campaign. Sharing his contact info with foreign leaders is another notable breach of protocol for a President who has shunned official channels and formalities. The President’s own son-in-law, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, is under FBI scrutiny for his alleged attempts to open a secret communication channel with the Kremlin.
Last week, a leaked transcript of Trump’s phone call with his Philippine counterpart, Rodrigo Duterte, revealed his candid communication style in the White House. Experts warned the informal contacts could cause trouble.
“If you are speaking on an open line, then it’s an open line, meaning those who have the ability to monitor those conversations are doing so,” said Derek Chollet, a former Pentagon adviser and National Security Council official now at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
The White House did not say whether the President is keeping records of calls made with world leaders on his cell phone.