Did Donald Trump call into C-SPAN under an alias?
Photo: Reuters
A caller identifying himself as 'John Barron' phoned into C-SPAN on Friday to comment on the Supreme Court of the United States’s ruling, and many viewers believe the voice sounded strikingly similar to President Donald Trump.
The segment quickly gained traction online, with social media users split over whether the caller was simply an impersonator or the president himself using a pseudonym.
‼️ People online are going nuts right now debating whether a C-Span caller named John Barron is actually President Donald Trump trying to get some good press.
🎥 C-SPAN pic.twitter.com/fSpo3iKUJjIn response to the speculation, C-SPAN later clarified that the call did not come from Trump and said it originated from a central Virginia phone number while the president was attending scheduled White House meetings.
Because so many of you are talking about Friday’s C-SPAN caller who identified himself as “John Barron,” we want to put this to rest: it was not the president. The call came from a central Virginia phone number and came while the president was in a widely covered, in-person…
The name 'John Barron' has drawn particular attention because Trump previously acknowledged using the alias, along with other pseudonyms, when speaking to reporters in the 1980s and 1990s to promote himself in media coverage.
A past investigation by news outlets also found that a supposed spokesperson using a similar name was, in fact, Trump.
In the clip, the caller praised Trump and criticized his opponents, further fueling speculation about the identity behind the call.