Energy Secretary Rick Perry fell for a prank phone call last week in which he thought he was speaking to the Ukrainian prime minister for a reported 22 minutes.
Instead, he was speaking to two Russian pranksters.
"Secretary Perry is the latest target of two Russian pranksters," said a spokeswoman for his department. "These individuals are known for pranking high level officials and celebrities, particularly those who are supportive of an agenda that is not in line with their governments. In this case, the energy security of Ukraine."
On June 20, Perry hosted the president of Ukraine and his delegation for a meeting at the Energy Department. On July 12, Perry received a request for a phone call to follow up on the meeting with the Ukrainian prime minister. A week later, Perry spoke on the phone with the Russian pranksters.
The pranksters are known for pranking high-level officials including Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, Elton John, Turkish President Erdogan, the Croatian prime minister and NATO secretary general.
It's unclear what Perry talked about during the phone call.
CBS News' Jillian Hughes contributed to this report.
simpletonsavant on July 26th, 2017 at 18:00 UTC »
And if just regular radio hosts were able to do this, I wonder how many actual foreign agents have exploited this. Since, you know, they're professionals at social engineering.
InstagramLincoln on July 26th, 2017 at 15:02 UTC »
So they just wrote down a phone number and called it back? Wouldn't they already have standardized means of contacting other countries? Seems like a major security issue.
EMorteVita on July 26th, 2017 at 14:15 UTC »
You would think the department tasked with safeguarding our nuclear stockpile would have some better screening...