Donald Trump on Wednesday urged Apple to aid FBI probe by decrypting the phones of the two accused of plotting assassination attempts on the former US president. This came as the federal investigation agency has not been able to access “three potentially foreign-based apps” on the phone of the Pennsylvania shooter and six cell phones of the golf club shooter, Trump said.
“They must get Apple to open the foreign apps, and they must get Apple to likewise open the six phones from the second lunatic,” the Republican presidential candidate said during a campaign in North Carolina.
He also criticised President Joe Biden for not taking any action on threats of attempted assassination from Iran.
“If I were the president, I would inform the threatening country, in this case, Iran, that if you do anything to harm this person, we are going to blow your largest cities and the country itself to smithereens,” Trump said.
Meanwhile, the company had received flak from Trump during his presidency for not unlocking the iPhone of a Royal Saudi Air Force lieutenant accused of killing three sailors in 2021, Bloomberg reported.
For years, Apple has turned down requests from law enforcement to create a backdoor in its phone operating system that would enable authorities to access data without a user’s password, citing concerns that such a code could be exploited by hackers.
The US intelligence has briefed Trump of “real and serious” threats of assassination attempts from Iran.
Following this, Trump said in a post on X, Big threats on my life by Iran. The entire US Military is watching and waiting. Moves were already made by Iran that didn’t work out, but they will try again. Not a good situation for anyone. I am surrounded by more men, guns, and weapons than I have ever seen before. Thank you to Congress for unanimously approving far more money to Secret Service – Zero “NO” Votes, strictly bipartisan. Nice to see Republicans and Democrats get together on something. An attack on a former President is a Death Wish for the attacker!”