Comedian prank calls Trump aboard Air Force One
A prank caller talking to the leader of the world’s most powerful country aboard Air Force One? Seems it can happen.
Posing as New Jersey senator Robert Menendez, comedian John Melendez said he contacted President Donald Trump on Wednesday night while he was on the presidential plane.
Melendez broadcast a recording of the conversation on his The Stuttering John Podcast, in which a voice that appears to be President Trump’s can be heard.
“Hi, Bob. How are you? Congratulations on everything, we’re proud of you,” the purported Mr Trump says in the recording.
“You went through a tough, tough situation and I don’t think a very fair situation,” he said to the “senator”, who was investigated for corruption before the charges against him were eventually dropped.
The two men then continued their conversation, moving from immigration to replacing Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is about to retire from the US Supreme Court.
The comedian said he called the White House pretending to be an aide to the senator and was eventually put in touch with the president on Air Force One, in a scenario that raises questions about protocol governing access to the commander-in-chief.
An operator took his message and accepted his explanation that his number was not the one in White House records because he was on holiday and using a different phone.
He then received a call from the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, before getting on to the phone with the US leader himself.
The White House issued a statement to CNN that did not refute Melendez’s account.
“The president wants to be accessible to members and likes engaging them and wants them to have the opportunity to connect,” a White House official said.
“The downside of that is sometimes the channels are open too widely and mistakes like this happen.”
Speaking to the US broadcaster, the comedian expressed disbelief that a few longshot calls to the White House switchboard had landed him on the phone with the president.
“I just could not believe that it took us an hour and a half to get Jared Kushner and Donald Trump on the phone from Air Force One,” he said.