U.S. government is investigating messages impersonating Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles

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WASHINGTON — The government is investigating after elected officials, business executives and other prominent figures in recent weeks received messages from someone impersonating Susie Wiles, President Donald Trump’s chief of staff.

A White House official said Friday the matter is under investigation and the White House takes cybersecurity of its staff seriously. ,The official was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The FBI did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that senators, governors, business leaders and others began receiving text messages and phone calls from someone who seemed to have gained access to the contacts in Wiles’ personal cellphone. The messages and calls were not coming from Wiles number, the newspaper reported.

It is unclear how the person gained access to Wiles’ phone, but the intrusion is the latest security breach for Trump staffers. Last year, Iran hacked into Trump’s campaign and sensitive internal documents were stolen and distributed, including a dossier on Vice President JD Vance, created before he was selected as Trump’s running mate.

Wiles, who served as a co-manager of Trump’s campaign before taking on the lynchpin role in his new administration, has amassed a powerful network of contacts.

Some of those who received calls heard a voice that sounded like Wiles that may have been generated by artificial intelligence, according to the report. Some received text messages that they initially thought were official White House requests but some people reported the messages did not sound like Wiles.

— Associated Press writer Eric Tucker contributed to this report.