Messages with “White House” were a hoax

 

TT-AFP-AP

 

Published 19.31Updated 21.58

          

        British Prime Minister Andy Burnham. Photo: James Manning/AP/TT

New British Prime Minister Andy Burnham exchanged messages with what he thought was the White House Chief of Staff. But it was an impostor.

Burnham sent “a number of messages” via an unspecified channel to a person he believed to be Chief of Staff Susie Wiles before becoming suspicious, anonymous sources told Politico.

The British Embassy in Washington has addressed the incident with the White House. It is unknown when the messages were sent and what they were about.

Burnham is not the first British politician to fall for a hoax. In 2024, then-Foreign Secretary David Cameron was tricked into thinking he was on the phone with former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Last year, the White House also investigated reports that senior politicians, civil servants and business leaders had received messages from someone claiming to be Susie Wiles.