On December 12, 2015, a day after “declaring war” on Donald Trump after he announced plans to ban all Muslims from entering the U.S., members of Anonymous, the loose group of hackers and activists, hacked into Trump’s voicemail and took his website offline for around an hour.
Trump is now attacked and reviled by the media for his stance on issues such as illegal immigrants and Muslim refugees, but his voicemails show that the same media were singing his praises in 2012.
Matt Broomfield reports for the (UK) Independent, March 5, 2016, that Trump’s hacked voicemail messages from 2012 “show leading figures in the US media showering him with praise, compliments, and thanks for his financial support.” Those leading figures include MSNBC news anchors Joe Scarborough, Mike Brzezinski, and Tamron Hall.
Scarborough and Brzezinski had cross-examined Trump on several occasions during the Republican primary campaign. Both can be heard in the voicemails profusely thanking Trump for his donation to a charity event:
- Scarborough says: “We are so, so grateful for everything, Donald, and we just want to call you and tell you how much it means to us.”
- Brzezinski also thanks Trump for his donation, saying, “You must be, like, on your jet or something. We’d love to talk to you.”
A woman identifying herself as “T Hall”, believed to be MSNBC’s Tamron Hall, can be heard on the recording saying she was going to use Trump’s discount in a luxury clothing store. She says: “I celebrated by going to Gucci, and I’m going to use your discount, because there’s a green dress that’s like $3,000, and I need a discount bigger than . . . my discount.”
Reacting to the hacked voicemails, Scarborough sarcastically confirmed the authenticity of the messages in which he can be heard speaking. He writes: “Oh my God. I just read the transcripts! Trump must have contributed to a children’s charity. Scandalous!!!! Should Mika and I now apologize for raising money for children’s charities from rich people?”
Barack Obama’s aide David Axelrod can also be heard thanking Trump for donating to his epilepsy charity. Other celebrities who can be heard speaking in a friendly, personal manner to Trump include American football star Tom Brady and boxing promoter Don King.
~Eowyn
