A Podcaster Tricked Donald Trump Into Receiving His Prank Phone Call, And Discuss Domestic Issues

That U.S. President Donald Trump does not follow previously established security norms by his Secret Service, with regards to his cell phone use is well known. Well, now there has been a security breach of sorts but it was a lark.

John Melendez, a stand-up comedian better known as “Stuttering John,” claims to have spoken with Donald Trump after calling the White House and claiming to be a politician from New Jersey. He released audio of his conversation with Trump, during which he fooled the U.S. President into thinking he was Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey. The president congratulated him on the Justice Department’s dismissal of corruption charges against him, discussed immigration and his next Supreme Court pick, and bragged about the North Dakota rally from which he was returning.

Melendez aired the recording of this conversation on his "The Stuttering John Podcast," in which a voice that appears to be Trump's can be heard. "You went through a tough, tough situation and I don't think a very fair situation," the U.S. President can be heard telling the "senator," who was investigated for corruption before the charges were eventually dropped.

The two men then continued their conversation, moving from immigration to replacing Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is set to retire from the U.S. Supreme Court. Melendez even tried to influence the president on his Supreme Court short list, telling him that he would support a vote for his pick as long as they weren't "too conservative."

"Yeah. Well, we will talk to you about it. We're going to probably make a decision, Bob, over the next two weeks," Trump replied.

Melendez told CNN it took him about an hour and a half to get Trump and the president’s son-in-law-cum-adviser, Jared Kushner, on the phone. “I am shocked,” Melendez said. “I mean, we did this as a goof, I’m a comedian.”

Confirming the authenticity of a call, the White House official said the office of legislative affairs reached out to Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey's office after the White House switchboard was notified of the call. The senator's chief of staff said Menendez never requested a call with the president and the message was passed on internally at the White House that the call was not to happen.

However, the call went through anyway.

Bragging about his conversation, Melendez said on his podcast, "This just shows you how easy it is to infiltrate the White House."

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 02, 2018 09:16 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).