President Donald Trump has slammed Apple over what he said is the company’s refusal to unlock the iPhones of “violent criminal elements” in order to help law enforcement officials in cases such as the December shooting at a naval base in Florida.
In a tweet late Tuesday, Trump said Apple needs to do more to assist police and other law enforcement officers as a part of a broader issue of helping out the entire country. Trump also cited his administration’s efforts to assist Apple on business matters.
“We are helping Apple all of the time on TRADE and so many other issues, and yet they refuse to unlock iphones used by killers, drug dealers, and other violent criminal elements,” Trump tweeted. “They will have to step up to the plate and help our great Country, NOW! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.”
We are helping Apple all of the time on TRADE and so many other issues, and yet they refuse to unlock phones used by killers, drug dealers and other violent criminal elements. They will have to step up to the plate and help our great Country, NOW! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 14, 2020
Trump didn’t directly mention the December shooting at Naval Air Station Pensacola, in which three U.S. sailors were killed when a Saudi Arabian air force member who was training at the facility went into a building and shot several people before being killed by law enforcement officials. However, Apple has been caught up in the Justice Department’s investigation of the case for more than a week.
Apple didn’t immediately return a request for comment about Trump’s tweet.
On Monday, Attorney General William Barr said that Apple had not provided “substantive assistance” in the case by not helping the FBI unlock two iPhones that belonged to the shooter.
However, Apple issued a statement saying it provided information as part of the FBI’s investigation “within hours” of receiving its first request on Dec. 6, and was still helping with the case.
“We reject the characterization that Apple has not provided substantive assistance in the Pensacola investigation,” Apple said, in a statement given to this news organization. “Our responses to their many requests since the attack have been timely, thorough and are ongoing.”
Trump’s negative comments about Apple also run counter to what has been a mostly upbeat relationship the president has had with Apple, and its Chief Executive, Tim Cook.
In November, Trump visited an Apple site in Austin, Texas, to mark the groundbreaking of an eventuall 3 million-square-foot campus that will employ up to 15,000 people. Cook also gave Trump a tour of Apple’s current facilty in Austin where the company builds it high-end Mac Pro computers. Last August, Trump called Cook “a great executive because he calls me and others don’t.”
