Donald Trump's phone could easily be hacked to change his beliefs and cause 'global instability', politicians warn

A hacker could listen in on the President's conversations, or alter messages that he reads on Twitter

US President Donald Trump speaks on the phone with Russia's President Vladimir Putin from the Oval Office of the White House on January 28, 2017 (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Donald Trump's phone could easily be hacked and used to cause global instability, a series of senior politicians have warned.

The President's commitment to using his old mobile phone, as well as other security lapses, is putting the country and Mr Trump himself in danger, the fifteen politicians have warned.

In a letter to the House Government Oversight committee, Representative Ted Lieu, a congressman from Los Angeles County, California, and fourteen other House Democrats criticised Mr Trump's security practices and laid out a scenario where they could be seized on by a hacker.

In particular, Mr Trump's phone – reportedly an old Samsung Galaxy S3 – could be broken into and manipulated, they warn. if that happened, a hacker could show false information to divert the President and cause "disastrous consequences for global stability", according to the letter.

"Referring to the complex problem of cybersecurity, President Trump recently said in an interview, 'I’m not sure you have the kind of security that you need'," the letter reads. "We fully agree—which is why we are writing to request that the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hold a hearing into troubling reports that the President is jeopardizing national security by egregiously failing to implement commonsense security measures across the board, from using an insecure, consumer-grade Android smartphone to discussing nuclear strategy openly in a dining room at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida.

"Cybersecurity experts universally agree that an ordinary Android smartphone, which the President is reportedly using despite repeated warnings from the Secret Service, can be easily hacked."

The letter also criticises the way that Mr Trump looks after classified information, and his team's use of private email servers. All of those security failings could lead to people reading or hearing sensitive information, the politicians warn.

The fifteen politicians ask authorities to check with the President's team to ensure that they are not being snooped on. They ask the oversight committee to check whether White House staff and Mr Trump have been properly briefed on security protocols, and if "the President and the Office of the President [can] ensure that there are no missing e-mails, communications, and technological exchanges—in other words, can they confirm they are not actively being monitored?"