Trump thought he took a phone call from a senator - but it was actually a prank

President Donald Trump often takes phone calls from senators and other lawmakers, but a conversation with who he thought was Senator Menendez (D-N.J.) reportedly turned out to be a prankster.

Here's what happened

John Melendez, a regular on Howard Stern’s radio show, claims that he was able to disguise his voice with various accents in order to dupe White House officials to let him speak to the president.

Trump had also been a regular guest on Stern's radio show before he was elected to the Oval Office.

"Stuttering John," as he is nicknamed, published a recording of the phone call he apparently had with the president. He said on his podcast that he had spoken to Trump many times as himself, and called him from his personal phone.

A person sounding like Trump can be heard on the recording congratulating the fake Menendez for beating criminal corruption charges. Melendez claims that the president was on Air Force One when he allegedly took the prank call.

“Hi, Bob. How are you? Congratulations on everything, we're proud of you,” says the president on the recording. “Congratulations, great job."

"You went through a tough, tough situation, and I don't think a very fair situation, but congratulations," he adds.

Melendez continued on to speak to Trump about immigration, the recent controversy over his "zero tolerance" policies, and his forthcoming nomination to the Supreme Court.

"I find it astounding that the news media's not picking up the fact that I totally duped the President & got in touch within in less than 2 hours while he was on Air Force One," tweeted Melendez.

"Shame on, NBC/, CNN & Huffington Post. I gave them a news story on their laps," he added.

Here's a video of Melendez talking about the call:

The White House has not confirmed yet if it the president's voice on the Melendez recording.