UK prime minister Andy Barnham exchanged messages with impostor posing as Trump aide
Downing Street says it will not comment on national security; British embassy in Washington alerted the White House after the incident.
Britain’s prime minister, Andy Barnham, exchanged messages with someone who falsely presented themselves as one of President Donald Trump’s closest aides, claiming to be White House chief of staff Suzy Wiles, four government sources have told reporters.
Diplomatic alarm and a cautious official line
Downing Street said, "We do not comment on matters of national security." Barnham later grew suspicious that the contact was not genuine.
One person familiar with the correspondence said that soon after Barnham took office there were "several messages" exchanged, and that those messages "had no significance." The source spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The British embassy in Washington became sufficiently concerned about the incident that it reported the matter to the White House, two of the government sources said. Officials involved in the discussions declined to be named.
Within government there were worries that Wiles's phone may have been compromised. The White House declined to comment on the specific incident.
Last year the White House and the FBI opened an inquiry after a number of U.S. senators, governors and business executives received messages and phone calls from someone claiming to be the president's chief of staff. An American news outlet later reported that Wiles told colleagues her phone contacts had been hacked. It is not known what Barnham and the impostor discussed or when the messages were sent; details have been kept tightly classified.
Photo: EPA/ANDY RAIN
