FBI investigates an attempt to impersonate White House Chief of Staff

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating an attempt to impersonate White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. The investigation began after an unknown individual contacted leading Republicans and businessmen, passing themselves off as her.

In that regard, sources familiar with the matter explained to The Wall Street Journal that in recent weeks, senators, governors, top business executives and other well-known figures have received text messages and phone calls from a person claiming to be Wiles.

A White House spokesman detailed that the situation is being investigated and that the government takes the cybersecurity of its staff seriously.

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

Similar were comments from FBI Director Kash Patel, who detailed that ensuring the security of government equipment is important to the agency. "Safeguarding our administration officials’ ability to securely communicate to accomplish the president’s mission is a top priority," Patel stressed.

In addition, it was learned that the number used was a personal phone, not an official one. Sources explained that Wiles told those close to her that her phone contacts had been hacked, which gave the impersonator access to the private numbers of some of the most influential people in the country.

"In some of the text messages, people received requests that they initially believed to be official. One lawmaker, for example, was asked by the impersonator to assemble a list of individuals who could be pardoned by the president," WSJ reported.

Similarly, many of those who received the calls realized it was not Wiles because the impostor asked questions about President Donald Trump that the chief of staff knows the answer to. Also the form the way he wrote was poor andthe messages were more formal than what Wiles usually sends.