Anonymous hacks Donald Trump's voicemail and leaks the messages
In the run-up to the presidential election, few days go by when Donald Trump isn't hitting the headlines for something he's said or done. The bombastic billionaire looks set to become the republican candidate, and his journey towards the White House is littered with offense and controversy, and back in December Anonymous declared war on him.
The loose collective of hackers and activist made its declaration after Trump announced plans to ban Muslims from entering the US. One of the alleged first strikes in Anonymous' war sees the group hacking the businessman's voicemail and leaking the messages. The messages appear to show that Trump had a surprisingly cosy relationship with the more left-leaning section of the media than one might imagine.
Leaked to Gawker the messages include some left by MSNBC journalists, thanking Trump for charitable donations. The site does offer a caveat: "While Gawker was unable to independently verify their authenticity, the recordings certainly appear to be genuine". But as noted by the Independent (which, along with Unilad, attribute the hack to Anonymous) the subject of one of the recordings, Joe Scarborough, appears to confirm the authenticity of the recordings on Twitter:
Oh my God. I just read the transcripts! Trump must have contributed to a children's charity. Scandalous!!! https://t.co/BxcZCdSkQb
— Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) March 4, 2016
The voicemail also appears to include praise-filled messages from MSNBC's Mika Brzezinski and Tamron Hall, as well as Don King and Tom Brady.
Trump has long-presented himself as someone who has an intense dislike and distrust of what he scornfully refers to as the 'liberal media', so the contents of his voicemail inbox are a little surprising, putting forward a rather different image -- one that he would perhaps prefer stayed hidden.
Despite having declared war on Donald Trump, Anonymous has not rallied behind a single politician to offer support. That said, on the day the voicemails leaked, the group tweeted:
We do not endorse any candidate, but Sanders is the only one that doesn't change his views constantly, it's been consistent over 30 years
— Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) March 4, 2016
Trump himself is yet to comment on the leak.
You can listen to snippets of the messages over on Gawker.
Photo credit: Joe Seer / Shutterstock