Trump Staffers Are Using Private RNC Emails
One of President Donald Trump's biggest campaign platforms while running for office was that Hillary Clinton should be "locked up" over her use of a private email server. But as it turns out, she isn't the only one who opted to use her personal email while in office - and now, many of Trump's senior staffers are guilty of doing the exact same thing.
According to Newsweek, Kellyanne Conway, Jared Kushner, Sean Spicer, and Steve Bannon all still have active accounts on the same Republican National Committee email system that the George W. Bush administration allegedly used "to evade transparency rules after claiming to have 'lost' 22 million emails." The source goes on to report that while it's not illegal for White House staff to maintain multiple political email accounts, it's more a matter of hypocrisy in this case. Newsweek also adds that there's a safety issue given that the RNC email system was hacked during the 2016 election, and could be hacked again.
Furthermore, these private email accounts aren't even the only major security risk for this administration at the moment: According to the New York Times, Trump is reportedly still using his beloved but unsecured Android phone, a.k.a. his tweeting device of choice - which is concerning for a multitude of reasons.
Mr. Trump’s wife, Melania, went back to New York on Sunday night with their 10-year-old son, Barron, and so Mr. Trump has the television - and his old, unsecured Android phone, to the protests of some of his aides - to keep him company. That was the case after 9 p.m. on Tuesday, when Mr. Trump appeared to be reacting to Bill O’Reilly’s show on Fox News, which was airing a feature on crime in Chicago.
An unsecured phone is extremely vulnerable to a cyber attack, especially if it belongs to the President of the United States of America - and is therefore a massive security risk for Trump's cabinet as well as the country. In fact, the Times previously reported that Trump had been forced to replace his phone with a "secure, encrypted device approved by the Secret Service," so it's unclear why he got it back. That being said, this tweet might be a clue:
If Chicago doesn't fix the horrible "carnage" going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 25, 2017
Updated 1/26 at 1:00 a.m.: Newsweek now reports that the RNC has deleted the email accounts of Conway, Kushner, and Bannon. They have not released a statement on the matter at this time.
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