Storm in the White House: Officials were asked to hand over the phones

The FBI is demanding that officials in the Trump administration hand over their cell phones to investigators as part of the investigation into the leak of the security flaws in the plane the United States received from Qatar and which was intended to be used as the presidential plane, according to a CNN report. It was also reported that Trump spoke personally with the head of the FBI Cash Patel regarding the investigation, which was conducted in the White House under the leadership of Patel and Trump’s chief of staff Susie Wales – an unusual deviation from the norm used in the USA of the independence of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from the elected echelon.

In the US, it was reported that Trump was outraged by the publication of the information about the new plane, and his administration quickly launched an intensive and wide-ranging investigation that shook the administration. The New York Times published earlier this week that the White House had ordered Patel to open an investigation into the leak published on the newspaper’s pages, and as part of the investigation, several journalists from the Times were called to testify. It was also written that an FBI official asked the newspaper to reveal its sources even before the article was published and was met with refusal.

CNN reported that during the investigation, at least one federal agency sent its employees a notice warning them that if they are contacted by outside parties requesting information or electronic devices, they should immediately contact their agency’s legal counsel. In addition to the demand to hand over cell phones, investigators also sought information from those who accompanied Trump or played a role on the trip, including officials from several government agencies. However, not everyone who was asked to hand over their device did so.

The New York Times announced that they would fight the investigation. “Today, The New York Times filed a motion to quash the abusive and improper subpoenas issued against three of our journalists,” David McCraw, chief legal counsel for the newspaper’s news division, said yesterday.

The issue of the security of the Qatari plane that Trump received worth 400 million dollars made headlines after Trump unexpectedly announced that he would not return from the NATO summit in Turkey with the Qatari plane, unless it was a different plane. The announcement came against the background of security deficiencies on the plane, and the fear of an Iranian attempt to harm the president.