Pedro Sánchez on his hacked iPhone: "It's a UFO" on Jordi Wild's podcast
Spain's prime minister told Jordi Wild's podcast that his phone was hacked with Pegasus, and joked that it's a UFO with nothing of value on it.
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giftdetect· the right gift in minutesPedro Sánchez's hacked phone has come up again, this time on a YouTube podcast. Spain's prime minister sat down with Jordi Wild's The Wild Project, confirmed his phone was infected, and joked that it is a UFO, an object nobody should expect much from.
The interview was published on the first day of the campaign for the 29 November general election. Wild recorded it in his studio in Manresa and released it alongside talks with Ada Colau (Frente Amplio) and Alberto Núñez Feijóo (PP). Sánchez's runs close to two hours. A fourth conversation, with Vox leader Santiago Abascal, never happened: Vox called off the recording at the last minute over disagreements about how the content would be used.
What happened to Pedro Sánchez's phone?
In April 2022, a Citizen Lab report said at least 65 politicians, lawyers and members of Catalan civil society linked to the independence movement had been targeted with Pegasus. That is spyware from the Israeli company NSO Group, which can get into a phone through flaws in WhatsApp or iMessage. Two weeks later, the Government said Sánchez's own iPhone had also been infected and that more than 2.6 GB of data had been taken.
The subject came up when Wild asked about Spain's relationship with Morocco. Sánchez said it is cordial and kept the attack separate from Morocco, saying only that Pegasus, as far as he knows, is an Israeli system. Wild replied that any government could use it. NSO says it sells only to governments. Spain's intelligence agency, the CNI, admitted spying on 18 Catalan separatist leaders with Supreme Court authorisation, a scandal that cost its director, Paz Esteban, her job.
Is there anything on the president's phone?
Sánchez downplayed it. His line, in a relaxed tone, was that the president's phone holds nothing confidential. That matches the Government's position: Defence Minister Margarita Robles has said there is no evidence of classified information on the infected phones.
He has talked about phone security recently on another show, La Revuelta, saying Moncloa technicians advised him to switch it off for five minutes a day. That rule has little basis. The US NSA recommends turning a phone off at least once a week.
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