White House Staff Told Reporters to Toss ‘Burner Phones,’ Other Items in Trash While Leaving China Amid ‘Bugging’ Fears

Fox & Friends co-hosts revealed the extent of security precautions taken by the U.S. delegation and press pool that traveled with President Donald Trump to China, noting that while the trip was “publicly” celebrated as a success, the “threat” from Beijing “bugging” personal tech was well understood.

Co-host Brian Kilmeade began by relaying his concerns about future deals involving Chinese technology as a “worry” before his colleague Lawrence Jones cited a tweet by New York Post reporter Emily Goodin explaining how “American staff” had thrown all “burner phones” in the trash before boarding Air Force One.

“Nothing from China allowed on the plane,” she said.

“Americans are saying we understand the threat of China, we’re going try to play nice try to get something done publicly, but privately we’re doing to deal with what is true,” Jones said.

In press pool reports seen by Mediaite, White House staff reportedly asked journalists to return badges and lapel pins used to identify them throughout the trip, saying Chinese officials wanted them back. These went into “a bin” along with the “staff burner phones.”

Following Jones’s observation, co-host Ainsley Earhardt revealed that she had “sources” on the plane to and unpacked the security measures taken by the delegation and traveling press cohort.

“They had to leave their American phones, turn them off, they did not take them into China, or if they did they left them on the planes,” she said. “They turned them off, they didn’t use them.”

She continued: “All of the Americans were using burner phones they had to destroy and leave them in China. They don’t want anything that belongs to the Chinese on that plane because they could be bugged. There could be spies.”

She added: “They had to check their security. The security was so tight apparently at the hotels and rooms and they did do all the sweeps before the Americans went over, especially the president’s room.”

Watch above via Fox & Friends.

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