Trump's Mobile Security

Floor Speech

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Mr. GALLEGO. Mr. Speaker, I came down to the floor today to give a gentle reminder and a wake-up call to Chairman Gowdy and to Speaker Ryan. I know they have a lot going on. The Speaker is flying out to do a fundraiser today. But I want to make sure he actually understood that what we know, also from multiple media outlets, is that this President is using a phone that is potentially compromising national security.

Rather than use the best, most secure communication technology in the world, President Trump just reaches into his pocket and pulls out his regular off-the-shelf phone when he wants to discuss matters of state. Now, he can switch to another phone, a government-provided phone, one that is secure, and he can still even tweet from that phone, but, for some reason, he is still stuck on this phone that is a national security risk.

Why would the leader of the free world, and our Commander in Chief, expose sensitive communication to foreign intelligence agencies?

Why would he act in such a reckless, negligent manner?

Well, according to news reports, the simple answer is that Donald Trump uses his personal cell phone because he just feels like it; it is more convenient for him. Forget the rules and forget the warnings from the military. He just does what he wants and ignores the consequences.

I want to highlight this story for Chairman Gowdy and Speaker Ryan because I know they care deeply about data security at the highest level of our government. After all, when Secretary Clinton was found to have used her personal email server, they launched multiple, month-long investigations. They spent millions of tax dollars conducting five emergency hearings, including four, coincidentally, right before the election, and ended up issuing more than 70 subpoenas.

Their efforts helped generate huge amounts of media coverage. In one 6-day period, The New York Times ran as many cover stories about Hillary Clinton's emails as they did about all of the policy issues combined in the 69 days leading up to the election.

But now that President Trump's widely irresponsible use of his personal cell phone has been exposed, now that we know he could be exposing America's secrets to our gravest enemies, surely my Republican friends are going to be just as worried about data security as they were in the past and conduct some oversight. Surely, they will. They surely will demand and request all the documents, hold hearings, and question witnesses. Surely. They will want to get to the bottom of this scandal as soon as possible.

Prior to the election, Chairman Gowdy explained to the reporters:

This investigation is not about politics. This is not even about one individual.

If it wasn't about politics, and if it wasn't just about stopping Hillary Clinton, the Speaker of the House and the chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee should certainly feel interested in investigating the President's cell phone use. And yet, coincidentally, they have been completely silent. Not one press statement, not one letter, not one word of warning to the White House.

It is almost as if they have no interest in conducting real oversight of this President. It is almost as if they are more interested in helping this President than holding him accountable. It is almost as if this Republican Party has completely lost its moral compass under this President.

Mr. Speaker, perhaps my good friend, Congressman Ted Lieu, could shed some light on more of these troubling issues for me.

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