How an Online 'Lego' Gamer Infiltrated the White House Press Corps

Four times in recent weeks, the White House press secretary was relayed questions from someone that Mediate describes as "a gag persona for a former Secretary of State made of Legos."

The reporters believed they were helping a real reporter who was prohibited by Covid protocols from attending. Politico reports: That colleague, who goes by the name Kacey Montagu, doesn't exist — at least not as an actual reporter. Since late last year, Montagu has taken on the identity of a White House correspondent extraordinaire with a fictional outlet to boot: White House News, shortened in emails to WHN... In communications with confidants, Montagu has posed as a member of White House Correspondents Association, claiming to be a reporter for The Daily Mail, the British tabloid known for its gossipy coverage of celebrities and political figures. Montagu also communicates regularly with top White House reporters and has had several exchanges with White House officials.

But Montagu never joined WHCA and The Daily Mail. There is no Kacey Montagu, except as a digital impersonation of a White House correspondent...

Montagu's activity is a remarkable illustration of how the online landscape, along with the age of pandemic-related virtual work, has opened up avenues for the mischievous-minded to infiltrate the top echelons of power. What's perhaps more remarkable is that he or she did it all without raising a solitary eyebrow... until Thursday.
Montagu had started a Twitter account showing the schedules of White House officials, which ultimately attracted a following by actual White House correspondents and even some minor government staffers, according to the article.

Acquaintances...believe Montagu's White House moonlighting began as something to boast about in the online global gaming platform called ROBLOX, where users jokingly call themselves "Legos." Within that platform is a role-playing group called nUSA, where people from across the world engage in a mock U.S. government exercise...

Another longtime member of the community in touch with Montagu said they suspected that they created the account "just for the memes" and never assumed things would progress this far.

Re:

[The New Guy 2.0]

Slashdot was big in politics ever since the 2000 technology malfunctions of punch cards in a Presidential election.

Please remember, it's Saturday Night in America so tech news doesn't flow very well right now.

Re:

[LifesABeach]

linux.
does kacey montagu use it

Re: Obsessed with politics

[klipclop]

Yep, fake news about a fake reporter "infiltrating" when probably he really didn't. (probably just asked to join and provided fake info no one checked)

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[Rockoon]

Succeeding at that is infiltration.

yeah but these are Journalists, surely they checked...

Re:

[Admiral Krunch]

It must be exhausting reading all that drivel.

Says OMBad without the slightest hint of irony...

Re:

[timeOday]

This doesn't strike me as a "political" story, more about how technology has made it impossible to determine the true identity of actors in many situations, and perhaps disrupted the 1:1 mapping of each identity to a human body.

Re:

[worldofsimulacra]

Politics is a microcosm of kindergarten, and if we want to derive possible future trajectories it's a good idea to at least keep an occasional eye on what the tykes are up to.

Shut up about toys

[backslashdot]

I am in a bad mood cause I missed out on buying the new Optimus Prime robot before it got sold out.

Re:

[IdanceNmyCar]

Reminds me of "Jingle All The Way", why can't the lesser figures get more support, you hater.

Where's the love for my bro Soundwave or even better, I want the Cybertron action figure. While all my friends are playing with their little bots, I gotta get out a crane to drop in my Cybertron toy. "Fuck your couch"

Fictional Characters Welcome, please sign in.

[The New Guy 2.0]

The White House press rules typically admit fictional news characters whose roles involve the White House, as evidence of the Press Secretary's interaction and approval. Website character Ananova did this in the past.

Now that Rush Limbaugh is dead, and his show continues with tapes he left behind, what happened to iHeartRadio's seat?

Re:

[NateFromMich]

No abortions for you! But we'll certainly keep the death penalty around. Explain the logic of that belief.

Well this isn't of particular interest to me, I'd say something like "unborn children aren't guilty of anything and deserve a chance, whereas criminals have proven they don't need another one".
Actually that seems pretty reasonable.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[Rockoon]

..and therefore means anti innocent life is also a thing.

It's anti-choice

[bussdriver]

Instead we should think for ourselves and call them "anti-choice" because that is the opposite of "pro-choice". Naturally, any decent PR person will say that the descript proper name sounds like it is against freedom (because it is) so they'd invent a new name which the suckers will just swallow or give in if one uses offense to bully people into using whatever propaganda you like.

BTW, most pregnancies end naturally but so early on it is not noticed... even the noticeable change to higher rates has been gr

Re:

[Beyond_GoodandEvil]

but daily mass shootings carried out by angry right wingers are... what?
Fiction? Or is your supposition that all those criminal gangs in cities like Chicago, are secretly right wingers? Troll harder anon, troll harder.

Blurring the lines.

[Ostracus]

Acquaintances...believe Montagu's White House moonlighting began as something to boast about in the online global gaming platform called ROBLOX, where users jokingly call themselves "Legos." Within that platform is a role-playing group called nUSA, where people from across the world engage in a mock U.S. government exercise...

Sort of a real live mmorpg.

Re:

[LindaJerk]

Hi .. do you mind being masturbated together? write me here ==>> v.ht/profile6581

"Real" reporter?

[kmoser]

The only qualification to become a reporter is to call yourself a reporter. There is no requirement that you have attended journalism school or work for a "real" publication.

Re:

[ISayWeOnlyToBePolite]

The only qualification to become a reporter is to call yourself a reporter. There is no requirement that you have attended journalism school or work for a "real" publication.

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog comes to mind https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] as having covered numerous national conventions.

Re: "Real" reporter?

[RightwingNutjob]

This is (nominally) a feature, not a bug.

For the same reason that it is better for a thousand guilty men to go free than for one innocent man to be jailed, it is better for a few trolls to ask the press secretary questions than for a single opposition-aligned news outlet to be denied access.

America has a great system. The US government should really look into implementing it.

It's all fun and games

[Vinegar Joe]

Till the 4AM knock on the door from the men in black.

Jeff Gannon comes to mind...

[damn_registrars]

Back in the GWB administration, there was a fake reporter who infiltrated the press corp under the name Jeff Gannon [wikipedia.org], representing a mostly fictitious news outlet called "Talon News". The big difference though is Gannon blew his cover by lobbing outrageous softball questions to the president (which was quite a feat considering he had to compete with Fox News for that title).

I don't even bother to watch anything

[oldgraybeard]

coming out of the White House or the White Houses' blue team press corp anymore.