Comedian John Melendez Got A Visit From Secret Service After Prank Calling Donald Trump On Air Force One
In a series of tweets posted Friday night, comedian John Melendez said that he got a visit from the Secret Service after tricking president Donald Trump into speaking with him on the phone, The Hill reports.
“Secret Service at my door. I guess my old friend Donald wants to continue this. Stay tuned,” Melendez tweeted.
“Sectret [sic] service about to arrest me. Unbelievable! They should arrest Jared Kushner for putting the call through, shame on Donald Trump who has been a friend of mine for years,” Melendez added, claiming that he did not answer the door. The agents showed their badges but left without arresting him, he tweeted.
Apart from claiming that the Secret Service paid him a visit, John Melendez said that Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avvenati, has offered to represent him if necessary.
As The Guardian reported, John Melendez, comedian and a veteran performer on Jay Leno and Howard Stern’s shows, published a podcast episode that includes the recording of a conversation between himself and what sounds to be Donald Trump. Melendez pretended to be the senator Robert Menendez, discussed immigration with the POTUS, urged Trump to choose a relatively non-conservative Supreme Court nominee.
The comedian was, he later said, “shocked” that he was able to get through to, first Jared Kushner, and then to the President of the United States himself so easily. It took him about an hour and a half, he said, to reach Donald Trump, after his producers called the White House and asked to speak to the president.
According to Politico, the White House was “scrambling” to figure out who put the comedian through to the POTUS, and some of Politico‘s White House sources added that it was, indeed, the President’s adviser and son-in-law, Jared Kushner, that had made the embarrassing mistake.
Sectret service about to arrest me. Unbelievable! They should arrest Jared Kushner for putting the call through, shame on Donald Trump who has been a friend of mine for years.
— John Melendez (@stutteringjohnm) June 30, 2018
John Melendez, he said, is not sure why Donald Trump wants to arrest him, since he has been a “fan” of the comedian’s antics, including the ones where he pretends to be a reporter, prank-calling celebrities. Melendez also said via Twitter that he left his house, moving to an undisclosed location.
As Fortune reported, numerous security experts said that, while funny, the incident is indicative of the state of communications security in the White House. One security expert quoted went as far as saying that the likelihood that the president’s communications have already been compromised is high.
The full transcript of the conversation between comedian John Melendez and what sounds to be Donald Trump has been published by the Business Insider.
