White House probing comedian’s prank call to Trump: report

The White House has launched an internal investigation into how a comedian’s prank call earlier this week was connected to President Trump.

ABC News reported on Saturday that the Trump administration confirmed the claim that comedian John Melendez was connected to the president. The White House said it is now reviewing how the call occurred.

Melendez said last week that he tricked Trump into believing he was New Jersey Sen. Bob Menendez (D). In audio uploaded to “The Stuttering John Podcast,” Melendez converses with Trump, bringing up immigration concerns and Trump’s executive order to stop separating migrant families at the southern border. 

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Melendez and Trump can also be heard discussing the Supreme Court vacancy that will be left by Justice Anthony Kennedy upon his retirement next month. Melendez, impersonating Menendez, tells the president he would support Trump’s pick if the justice were not “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 responded.

ABC notes that the office of legislative affairs contacted Menendez after the White House switchboard was notified of the call. Menendez’s chief of staff then told the White House that Menendez had made no request to speak with Trump. 

But the call went through anyway, according to the report. 

Melendez said on his podcast that Trump adviser Jared Kushner connected him to the president. 

“This just shows you how easy it is to infiltrate the White House,” Melendez said on the podcast. 

Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said earlier this week that the call had “chilling” implications for the future of White House security.

“I’m shocked this was able to get through, and it really does raise questions about what kind of security filter do we have on Air Force One, presumably the most secure set of communications in the world?” he said.