Video gamer posing as reporter cons White House, says Press Crops doing 'pretty bad job'

Four times in recent weeks, White House press secretary Jen Psaki has fielded questions posed to her from someone claiming to be a fellow reporter who was not able to be there in the room due to COVID-19 protocols. However, the reporter, who calls herself ‘Kacey Montagu’, is actually no reporter at all and instead is a gamer on the online platform ROBLOX, Politico reported. Montagu did not just have a fake identity, but she also worked for a fictitious media outlet, named White House News (WHN). 

According to the media outlet, Montagu had taken on the identity of a White House correspondent extraordinaire with a fictional outlet WHN. She also started two real-life Twitter handles, which are followed by some top White House officials and journalists. Montagu had even filed Freedom of Information Act requests and obtained Psaki’s personal financial disclosure form, along with the disclosure of at least one other official, the President’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan. 

In communications with confidants, Montagu posed as a member of the White House Correspondents Association and claimed to be a reporter for The Daily Mail, the British tabloid. Further, she also communicated regularly with top White House reporters and has had several exchanges with White House officials. However, she never joined the WHCA and The Daily Mail. There is also no Kacey Montagu, except a digital impersonation of a White House correspondent. 

Inspiration behind Montagu’s actions 

As per reports, Montagu set up the Twitter accounts “WH Schedule” and “WH Pool Report” through which she reposted information such as the daily schedules of the president, first lady, vice president and the second gentleman. She also reposted real-time dispatches about the movements and utterances of important officials known as pool reports. Now the accounts have, however, been suspended.

In an email to the media outlet, Montagu revealed that “the bad job that the Press Crops is doing” had inspired her to pull of this impersonation. She said that she decided to ensure some transparency and ask some questions she and some of her friends wanted the answer to. She did not reveal her real identity, however, she said that she informed that US officials and non-profit journalism and government-tracking outfits that she was an 18-year-old law student from the UK who was born in the US. 

(Image: AP)