Mexican president confirms her cellphone was hacked, downplays incident

MEXICO CITY

Mexico's president on Monday confirmed reports that one of her cellphones and her email address had been hacked.

During a press conference, Claudia Sheinbaum confirmed that the initial reporting by The New York Times was partially true but downplayed it. Last Friday, the Times reported that Sheinbaum's cellphone was hacked shortly after Mexico announced the handover of 29 drug cartel criminals to US authorities, citing several people familiar with the matter.

"Yes, they hacked my phone ... They hacked my phone and my email account. Apple immediately called the Digital Transformation Agency (Mexico's Department of Telecommunications), who quickly realized the hack, took appropriate action, and reviewed it promptly," she said.

Sheinbaum shrugged off the cybersecurity breach since the hacked cellphone was an old number that "the whole world has," and she no longer uses for personal and professional matters.

The cellphone was used by Sheinbaum as then-delegate of the Tlalpan neighborhood in Mexico City, long before she was a presidential candidate or head of government of the capital.

The cellphone was so widely disseminated by Mexico City neighbors that it was published in local media last year, before the June 2024 general election.

"Who hacked it? We do not know, they are investigating it is difficult to know," she said.

The New York Times piece went into detail about a call between Sheinbaum and US President Donald Trump where they brokered an agreement that spared Mexican goods from the 25% tariffs for another month.

It said Trump lauded Sheinbaum with compliments while berating Justin Trudeau, who was then Canada’s prime minister, and an outspoken opponent of Trump’s threats of tariffs on its neighbors.

"I don’t know where the information about the call with President Trump comes from, I don’t know who gave it to them. There are some issues that are true, which I’ve generally talked about here in the morning press conference, and they have nothing to hide, but there are other issues I don’t know where they came from because they are not real," said Sheinbaum.