Trump Downplays Burnham’s Messages With Wiles Impersonator After Only a Few Exchanges
Updated
Updated · POLITICO · Aug 18
Trump Downplays Burnham’s Messages With Wiles Impersonator After Only a Few Exchanges
3 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Aug 18
Summary
Trump said concerns were overblown after POLITICO reported that Burnham exchanged only “a few messages” with someone posing as White House chief of staff Susie Wiles before growing suspicious.
The British Embassy in Washington raised the contact with the White House over national security worries, but a White House official said the episode had nothing to do with Wiles’s devices being hacked.
The incident revives an earlier security issue: federal authorities opened a separate investigation in May 2025 after senators, governors and business leaders received messages from another person claiming to be Wiles.
Trump also used Monday’s remarks to again urge Britain to open up the North Sea, saying the resource could make the U.K. “rich again.”