Trump criticizes Apple's encryption stance on Pensacola phones

US President Donald Trump has criticized Apple Inc for its refusal to unlock iPhones used by “killers” while benefiting from government help on trade.

Trump made the comments on Tuesday after Attorney General William Barr accused Apple of not providing help in an investigation of a deadly shooting by a Saudi Air Force officer at a Florida naval base last month.

"We are helping Apple all of the time on TRADE and so many other issues, and yet they refuse to unlock phones used by killers, drug dealers and other violent criminal elements," Trump said on Twitter. "They will have to step up to the plate and help our great Country, NOW!" he tweeted.

The company has said it cannot access data that is encrypted with a passcode and stored on an iPhone, but it can release data stored on its cloud storage servers to law enforcement officials.

Apple did not comment on Trump's remarks but a day earlier said it rejected “the characterization that Apple has not provided substantive assistance” in the investigation into the shooting of three Americans by the gunman at the US Naval Station in Pensacola, Florida, last month.

Barr on Monday called the fatal shooting “an act of terrorism” and urged Apple to help the Federal Bureau of Investigation unlock two iPhones involved in the case.

Barr said the evidence showed the shooter was motivated by extremist ideology.

Barr also said that 21 Saudi cadets have been expelled following an investigation into the fatal shooting and will be sent home.

He added that the military trainees possessed child pornography and other extremist materials.

“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia determined that this material demonstrated conduct unbecoming an officer in the Saudi Royal Air Force and Royal Navy and the 21 cadets have been dis-enrolled from their training curriculum in the US military and will be returning to Saudi Arabia later today," Barr said.

He said that the “evidence shows that the shooter was motivated” by extremist ideology.

Apple said it had responded to multiple separate legal requests from federal investigators in December. The company said it turned over "many gigabytes" of data to investigators, including iCloud backups.

“A federal judge has authorized the Department of Justice to access the contents of the dead terrorist’s phones. Apple designed these phones and implemented their encryption. It’s a simple, 'front-door' request: Will Apple help us get into the shooter’s phones or not?” Kerri Kupec, a Department of Justice spokeswoman, said in a statement on Tuesday.

US expels 21 Saudi military cadets after ‘act of terrorism’ by Saudi officer

The United States says it is sending 21 Saudi military cadets back to the kingdom after its probe finds last month’s fatal shooting by a Saudi officer as an “act of terrorism.”

Last December, second Lieutenant Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani killed three American sailors and wounded eight other people at the Pensacola Naval Air Station before being shot dead by police.

Following the deadly shooting, US President Donald Trump’s Republican allies condemned the attack as an act of terrorism, and called for a halt to the training program that admitted the shooter and called on the Saudi government to cooperate in the investigation, according to The Washington Post.

But Trump used his appearances before television cameras and on social media to repeatedly offer cover for the Saudis.

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