“E-mail prankster” phishes White House officials; hilarity ensues

Enlarge / Anthony Scaramucci was trolled by a prankster posing as former White House Chief of Staff Reince Preibus, Ambassador Jon Huntsman, and friend Andrew Schwartz. (credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Over the past few weeks, a self-described “e-mail prankster” has posed as members of President Donald Trump’s administration in a series of e-mails to White House officials, publishing responses to Twitter for comedic effect. Among the targets were Trump’s top homeland security advisor Tom Bossert—who volunteered his personal e-mail address to the prankster because Bossert believed he was interacting with Jared Kushner.

Now-deposed White House Communications Director Anthony Scaramucci was also repeatedly targeted by the prankster, who the prankster addressed while posing as deposed White House chief of staff Reince Priebus, Ambassador Jon Huntsman, and Scaramucci’s friend Andrew Schwartz. Some of the Scaramucci responses to the e-mails were posted to Twitter under the @sinon_reborn account.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders acknowledged the legitimacy of the e-mails to CNN, saying that the administration takes” all cyber related issues very seriously.”