C-SPAN put the rumors to rest after a convincing Trump impersonator called in to criticize the Supreme Court.
The network released a statement on Sunday, addressing the caller from Virginia by the name John Barron, who phoned in to discuss the Supreme Court’s decision to block the president’s sweeping tariff policies.
Many viewers noticed that Barron’s voice and cadence were almost identical to Trump’s and were convinced he called under a pseudonym.
But C-SPAN said the president was far too busy at the time to pick up the phone.
‘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,’ their statement read.
‘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.’
Host Greta Brawner spoke to multiple viewers – including ‘John Barron’ – on Friday about the Supreme Court’s controversial ruling.
Some fans theorized Trump called C-SPAN to criticize the Supreme Court’s decision to block his tariff policies
The caller phoned in Friday to speak with Greta Brawner on the decision released that morning
‘John in Virginia, Republican, let’s hear from you,’ she said, introducing the misleading guest.
Not only was Barron’s voice strikingly similar to the president’s, but he used the same alias that Trump reportedly fed to reporters in the 80s and 90s, per the Washington Post.
‘Look, this is the worst decision you ever made in your life, practically. And Jack’s going to agree with me, right, but this is a terrible decision,’ Barron said.
‘You have Hakeem Jeffries, who… he’s a dope. And you have Chuck Schumer, who can’t cook a cheeseburger. Of course, these people are happy. But true Americans will not be happy.’
He then seemed to refer to previous callers and guests on the show.
‘And you have the woman earlier — I assume she’s a woman, she’s a Democrat,’ he continued. ‘But she’s … devastated by this.’
Trump stopped using John Barron when he had to admit to using the fake name under oath in 1990.
The call came after the Supreme Court voted six to three against Trump’s tariffs
The president was hosting the National Governors’ Association on Friday ahead of the Governors’ Dinner the following evening.
The event was already marred by controversy after Trump blocked Governors Jared Polis and Wes Moore from coming, only to re-extend their invitations.
Still, one dutiful doubter spelled out the president’s schedule that day and insisted he could have squeezed in a phone call.
‘SCOTUS ruling announced about 10 while Trump was meeting with governors,’ they wrote.
‘At 12:45, he started his briefing. It ended at 2.06. He went into the Oval Office until 4.34.
‘John Barron called C-SPAN at 3.19. Caller ID said where the phone was registered, not where it came from. I call BS.’
Others were so convinced by Barron’s impersonation that they argued the segment was pre-recorded or that Trump had slipped away with a burner phone in the bathroom.
The caller had a shockingly similar voice to the president and even used a pseudonym that Trump has been known to employ in the past
Despite not airing his grievances on C-SPAN, the president did get in some blows at the Supreme Court on social media shortly after their six-to-three vote on Friday.
Trump appointees Amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch were among those who voted against him, ruling that his policy was not allowed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
They were joined by justices Elena Kagan, Sonia Sotomayor, John Roberts and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
In response, Trump called the justices who voted against him ‘very unpatriotic’ and publicly fired back on Truth Social.
‘What happened today with the two United States Supreme Court Justices that I appointed against great opposition, Neil Gorsuch and Amy Coney Barrett, whether people like it or not, never seems to happen with Democrats,’ he wrote.
‘They vote against the Republicans, and never against themselves, almost every single time, no matter how good a case we have.’
