US authorities investigating effort to impersonate White House Chief of Staff: Report

Federal authorities are investigating an effort by an unknown individual to impersonate White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, according to a report Thursday by The Wall Street Journal.

Investigators said that in recent weeks, the person has reached out to prominent Republican senators, governors and top US business executives through text messages and phone calls claiming to be Wiles.

However, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said that all the communications are not coming from Wiles but rather someone impersonating her.

While the FBI and the White House have not been able to identify the individual, they do not believe a foreign nation is involved in the scheme.

The incident follows a previous breach when Iranian operatives hacked into Wile's email account during the 2024 presidential campaign, according to sources familiar with the situation. The cyberattack reportedly exposed internal research on JD Vance, then Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's running mate.

"The White House takes the cybersecurity of all staff very seriously, and this matter continues to be investigated," a White House spokeswoman told the Journal

Wiles is widely considered to be President Trump's closest adviser, managing his 2024 presidential campaign before becoming the first woman to serve as White House chief of staff. She also has a lengthy list of high-profile Republican contacts in both Washington, DC and Florida, where she spent years as a political power broker.

"The FBI takes all threats against the president, his staff, and our cybersecurity with the utmost seriousness," FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement released to the Journal. "Safeguarding our administration officials' ability to securely communicate to accomplish the president's mission is a top priority."

Officials said Wiles mentioned that her personal cell phone, not her government cell phone, was hacked, which has given the impersonator access to the private phone numbers and contacts of some of the United States' most influential people.

According to people who heard some of the voice messages left by the person claiming to be Wiles, the impersonator's voice sounded like Wiles. Government officials, however, believe the person used artificial intelligence to imitate her voice.

The Wall Street Journal also reported that in some of the text messages, the contacts received requests that they initially believed to be from Wiles, with one lawmaker saying the person asked them to assemble a list of individuals who could be pardoned by the president.

More suspicious requests continued, including the impersonator asking for a cash transfer, and in many cases, the person's grammar was broken and the messages were more formal than the way Wiles typically communicates with her contacts. The calls also did not come from Wiles's cell phone number.

The FBI and the White House are still trying to find out how the impersonator was able to gain access to Wiles's cell phone contacts and Congressional members have been notified about the hack.

Authorities said the impersonator has continued sending messages in recent days, including while Wiles was with the president in the Middle East.