Yahoo News Football given to Donald Trump by Vladimir Putin 'undergoing security checks' after claims it could be bugged
The football thrown to President Donald Trump by Vladimir Putin is undergoing security screening, US officials have said.
The US Secret Service said that it is standard for all gifts to the US president to go through routine checks.
Some media and politicians have suggested that the football could be rigged with spyware.
During a joint news conference after their summit this week in Finland, Mr Putin used football metaphors and was handed a football that he then passed to Trump.
Chief global correspondent for NBC News, Bill Neely, tweeted that he then saw the football being put through a security scanner.
I just saw a US Secret Service agent put the soccer ball Putin gave Trump through a security scanner outside the Pres. Palace. He didn’t smile when I joked about it.
— Bill Neely (@BillNeelyNBC) July 16, 2018
Mr Trump said he would give the ball to his 12-year-old son Barron, a football fan.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a Putin critic, tweeted after the exchange that he'd have the ball checked for listening devices and "never allow it in the White House."
Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told a security conference he's sure the ball "has been looked at very carefully."
