US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One prior to departure from Canadian Forces Base Bagotville in Canada, June 9, 2018. (AFP PHOTO / SAUL LOEB)
WASHINGTON — A prank caller talking to the leader of the world’s most powerful country aboard Air Force One? It’s apparently possible.
Posing as New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez, comedian John Melendez said he contacted President Donald Trump on Wednesday night while he was on the presidential plane.
Melendez aired a recording of the 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,” he said to the “senator,” who was investigated for corruption before the charges were eventually dropped.
John Melendez attends the premiere of ‘Gotti’ at the SVA Theatre on Thursday, June 14, 2018, in New York. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP)
The two men then continued their conversation, moving from immigration to replacing Justice Anthony Kennedy, who is set to retire from the US Supreme Court.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
The comedian said he called the White House pretending to be an aide to the senator and was ultimately put in touch with the president on Air Force One, in a scenario that raises questions about protocol governing access to the commander in chief.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
We can't do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this,please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel