Republican candidate Donald Trump ratcheted up his lashing of Apple on Friday, telling followers to boycott the company until it capitulates and helps the FBI unlock a phone linked to a mass shooting.
“What I think you ought to do is boycott Apple until such time as they give that security number,” he said, speaking at a rally in South Carolina. “[Apple CEO] Tim Cook is looking to do a big number, probably to show how liberal he is.”
Earlier this week, A federal court ordered Apple to help the government unlock an iPhone used by one of the shooters in December’s deadly attack in San Bernardino, which killed 14 people. But CEO Tim Cook said the request would force the company to create a entryway that could be used to open anyone’s iPhone.
Trump had already rejected Apple’s stance that its defiance of the court order was in the interest of widespread consumer privacy. “Who do they think they are?” he said on a segment with Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” Wednesday. “Apple, this is one case, this is a case that certainly we should be able to get into the phone… And we should find out what happened, why it happened, and maybe there’s other people involved and we have to do that.”