A phone call broadcast on the US public affairs television network C-SPAN has gone viral over the past 24 hours after viewers noticed that the caller, who complained about Democrats and the Supreme Court, sounded strikingly — almost uncannily — like President Donald Trump. Adding to the intrigue, the caller identified himself using a pseudonym Trump is known to have used in the 1980s and 1990s.
The clip captures a moment during a live broadcast in which host Greta Brawner spoke with a caller identified as John Barron from Virginia, who phoned in to express his opinion about the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down Trump’s tariff plan. Many viewers remarked that Barron’s voice was nearly identical to Trump’s and became convinced it was the president himself calling under an alias. Others suggested it may simply have been an excellent impersonator.
Listen to the live conversation with the mystery caller in the US
Those who believed the caller was indeed Trump had some grounds for suspicion. Trump frequently gives interviews to television networks by phone, and in the 1980s and 1990s he was known to prank journalists by calling them under the pseudonyms “John Barron” or “John Miller,” making little effort to disguise his voice. At the time, he used the tactic to speak directly to reporters while pretending to be his own spokesperson. The practice became so consistent that CNN eventually conducted an investigation and concluded that the caller using those names was, in fact, Donald Trump.
The call that stirred online debate took place Friday during Brawner’s viewer call-in program. “John from Virginia, Republican, let’s hear from you,” she said, addressing the mysterious caller.
“Look, this is the worst decision you ever have in your life, practically. It’s a terrible decision,” the caller said. “You’ve got Hakeem Jeffries,” referring to the Democratic leader in the House of Representatives, “who… he’s a dope. And you have Chuck Schumer,” the Senate Democratic leader, “who can’t cook a cheeseburger. Of course these people are happy. But true Americans will not be happy."
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In the 1980s and 1990s Trump pranked journalists by calling them under the pseudonyms John Barron or John Miller
(Photo: Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
He later referenced previous callers, saying: “You had that woman earlier — I assume she’s a woman — she’s a Democrat, but she’s… she’s devastated.”
It is worth noting that the “real” Trump did in fact criticize the Supreme Court on Friday, calling the justices’ ruling a “disgrace” and saying it was “an embarrassment to their families.”
On Saturday evening, C-SPAN management sought to quell the speculation. In a statement, the network insisted the caller was not President Trump, noting that he was occupied at the time. “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 network wrote on the social platform X. “The call came from a central Virginia phone number and came while the president was in a widely covered, in-person White-House meeting with the governors. Tune into C-SPAN for the actual president at the State of the Union Address on Tuesday night."
However, The Huffington Post noted that according to the president’s public schedule, at 10:30 a.m. that day he had a “private meeting” not open to press coverage. The caller identified as John Barron phoned C-SPAN at 10:51 a.m., and two governors who attended the morning meeting began their press conference at 10:53 a.m. Not everyone was convinced by C-SPAN’s explanation. Some online commentators speculated that the call may have been prerecorded or that Trump briefly stepped aside to make it. Others pointed out that, given current technology, it is not difficult to place a call from Washington while appearing to be calling from Virginia.
As noted, “John Barron” was a prominent alias Trump used in the 1980s and 1990s to relay messages to the media without them being directly attributed to him. He stopped using the name in the 1990s after being questioned under oath in a lawsuit about whether he had used it, responding: “I believe I used that name occasionally.”
Trump also used other pseudonyms. A former reporter for People magazine recalled that in 1991 he admitted to her that he had pretended to be his own spokesperson under the name “John Miller,” saying: “He told me he was sorry he made that call, and that it was a joke that got out of control.”