Trump cyber czar Rudy Giuliani had to visit an Apple Store to unlock his iPhone

We're sensing a pattern with Rudy and technology.
 By 
Marcus Gilmer
 on 
Trump cyber czar Rudy Giuliani had to visit an Apple Store to unlock his iPhone
Might wanna double-check your code, Rudy Credit: NICHOLAS KAMM / GETTY Images

As if it needed reinforcing that we are living in the dumbest, darkest timeline, NBC News reports that Rudy Giuliani needed help at an Apple Store after locking himself out of his iPhone.

Adding to the sheer stupidity of the incident was the fact that it happened in February 2017, less than a month after President Donald Trump named Rudy as his cybersecurity adviser.

Per NBC's report, Rudy hit up the Apple Genius Bar at one of San Francisco's Apple stores on Feb. 7, 2017 because "he had forgotten the passcode and entered the wrong one at least 10 times" and was, thus, locked out of his phone.


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NBC spoke to at least one former Apple Store employee who was present the day of Rudy's visit and obtained a photo of Apple's "work authorization notes" for the incident which read, "Customer came in with an iPhone that had a forgotten passcode and the phone had been disabled. Proceeded with DFU restore and will set up the phone again from a current iCloud backup."

This story is like an onion: peeling the layers leaves you crying at the end.

First of all, Rudy forgot his password and entered it wrong "at least 10 times." To be fair, this can be a common problem and it's why tech companies rolled out options like Face ID and Touch ID.

But to be "cybersecurity adviser" and get it wrong THAT many times? NOT GREAT. The congressman who uses "777777" and Kanye can at least remember their passcodes.

Second, Rudy was already a member of Team Trump and he just ... walked into an Apple Store? Doesn't the White House have people for this? Was there sensitive information on that phone? Was it government issue?

Third, should we even be giving Rudy a phone at this point? There is way too much photographic evidence that Rudy has a hard time with phones and that doesn't include the multiple butt dials to reporters.

Look, Rudy has already proven he has no idea how the internet works and can't even finish composing tweets without sending or mangling them. Maybe it's time we just ban America's Mayor platonic ideal of a racist grandad from using electronics or at least give him a dummy phone.

He's already done enough damage as it is.

Topics iPhone Politics

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Marcus Gilmer

Marcus Gilmer is Mashable's Assistant Real-Times News Editor on the West Coast, reporting on breaking news from his location in San Francisco. An Alabama native, Marcus earned his BA from Birmingham-Southern College and his MFA in Communications from the University of New Orleans. Marcus has previously worked for Chicagoist, The A.V. Club, the Chicago Sun-Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

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