Comedian John Melendez claims he tricked President Trump into believing he was New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) in a recent phone call.
In audio uploaded to “The Stuttering John Podcast,” a man who sounds like the president can be heard saying “Hi Bob.”
The man congratulates Melendez, believing him to be the senator.
“You went through a tough, tough situation. And I don’t think a very fair situation, but congratulations,” the voice says in an apparent reference to the charges against Menendez that were dropped earlier this year.
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During the conversation, the comedian brings up his immigration concerns for his “constituents” and references the executive order Trump signed permitting families to remain together.
“But I have to ask, what can I tell them you’re going to do moving forward?” Melendez asks.
The man speaking to Melendez says he believes lawmakers can work toward a deal on immigration.
“I think we could do a real immigration bill. We have to have security at the border. We have to have it,” the person said.
Menendez later responded to the comments in a statement.
“As someone who has spent my entire career trying to convince Republicans to join me in reforming our nation’s broken immigration system, I welcome any opportunity to have a real conversation with the president on how to uphold the American values that have guided our family-based immigration policy for the past century,” the senator said.
“Tearing children apart from their mothers is not part of our proud history. Thus far, this White House has only sabotaged every good-faith effort to find bipartisan common ground on immigration.”
Melendez also mentions the imminent Supreme Court vacancy following Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy’s announcement that he will retire at the end of July, meaning the alleged conversation with Trump took place in the last two days.
Kennedy announced his retirement the same day a House immigration bill failed in the lower chamber.
–Updated 6:45 p.m.