It's hard to believe, but according to Axios and Yahoo Finance, as well as my own ears, The Stuttering John Podcast just recorded a prank phone call with Trump.
Yesterday, comedian John Melendez just called the White House switchboard and was put through to Trump (or a really good impersonator). Melendez told the switchboard that he was NJ Senator Bob Menendez's assistant, Sean Moore – "S-E-A-N as in Sean Connery" and "Moore as in Roger Moore."
The fun starts at about 32:00 into the podcast. After getting hung up on, then getting a vapid switchboard operator who believed him, and then a call back asking why he had a California phone number (to which Melendez responded that he was on vacation), and finally getting a call from Jared Kushner from Air Force One, Trump calls him back (at 1:10:00 on the recording).
“You went through a tough, tough situation, and I don’t think a very fair situation, but congratulations,” Trump tells The Stuttering John prankster.
The two chit chat about various items, including immigration, to which Trump said, "Bob, let me just tell you I want to be able to take care of the situation every bit as much as anybody else at the top level. I'd rather do the larger solution rather than the smaller solution."
And who's going to replace Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. "I have a list of people, I have a big list of people, Bob, and we’ll take a look at it and we’re gonna make a decision. I’ll probably make it over the next couple of weeks," Trump assures him.
From Axios:
Why it matters: This calls into question White House security. White House staff members are freaking out today trying figure out how the podcast host was so easily transferred from the White House switchboard to Air Force One, per a source familiar.
The whole thing is ridiculous. Melendez, the host, had three different interactions with two White House operators and got through two call screens before Jared Kushner called him from Air Force One. According to Melendez, Kushner asked if he wanted to talk to the president then or have them call him back later, which is what he did.
You can listen to the podcast and hear it for yourself here.
Image: Michael Vadon/Flickr
