Israel Planted Spy Devices Near WH, Trump Shrugged

Politico reports:

The U.S. government concluded within the last two years that Israel was most likely behind the placement of cell-phone surveillance devices that were found near the White House and other sensitive locations around Washington, D.C., according to three former senior U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.

But unlike most other occasions when flagrant incidents of foreign spying have been discovered on American soil, the Trump administration did not rebuke the Israeli government, and there were no consequences for Israel’s behavior, one of the former officials said.

The miniature surveillance devices, colloquially known as “StingRays,” mimic regular cell towers to fool cell phones into giving them their locations and identity information; they also can capture the contents of calls and data use. The devices were likely intended to spy on Trump, one of the former officials said, as well as his top aides and closest associates.

Trump is well-known to use unsecured cellphones despite repeated warnings from intelligence agencies.