Russian pranksters threaten Kamala Harris by pretending to be Greta Thunberg on a phone call while discussing climate change and Donald Trump.
The US Sun may reveal Vovan’s infamous duo and Lexus got into a conversation with Joe Biden’s VP when they posed as Greta Thunberg offering filth to Trump.
Excluding audio from the three-minute conversation, Senator Kamala in California enthusiastically greeted who she thought was the teenage climate activist over the phone in January.
“Greta” claims she had “nightmares” about meeting Trump at the UN in September last year while chatting about Kamala’s climate plan and her campaign.
The pranksters then say they have a secret recording of Trump whistling “you will never reach the goal” to Greta.
“Greta” and a prankster pose as her father Svante then offer to provide the audio to help the campaign.
Kamala replies: “Thank you, that would be wonderful”.
It’s illegal to record conversations of people without the consent of both parties in 15 states – but not in New York, where “Greta” claims she recorded Trump.
Security experts branded the prank an “alarm clock” and said Kamala’s team failed to perform simple checks to verify who was on the other end of the phone.
Russian duo Vovan and Lexus – real names Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexey Stolyarov – have performed a string of high-profile prank calls, including Prince Harry and Bernie Sanders.
The audio is made public days after Harris was nominated for Biden’s choice of VP as field lines are drawn for the 2020 presidential election.
It’s also because Biden and Harris were officially crowned as the challengers of the White House of Democrats at a convention of show stopping parties.
Harris officially accepted the Democratic vice presidency nomination Wednesday night when Barack Obama launched a blast attack on his successor, Trump.
The prank call – which happened after Harris dropped out of the Democratic race in December – begins when Kamala says, “Hello Greta, congratulations on all your leadership. I am so inspired by your courage and your voice.”
“Greta” then asks if there is any way she can support Kamala’s campaign, saying it would be “cool”.
Speaking to the U.S. Senate in Washington DC, the Democrat says she would like “Greta” to talk about her climate plan and encourages her to follow up with her policy team – with any support “very helpful”.
“Greta” claims that she tried to talk to other politicians but had no luck, and that she complained that being beaten by Russian leader Vladimir Putin was “not what I wanted”.
Kamala replies: “There are forces working against our movement and we have to fight for these things.
“This is that moment, and you have been a great fighter in this matter.”
The pranksters then claim “Greta” can not eat or sleep when she sees Trump – saying she is “horrible” about what he is doing, saying the UN meeting was “terrible”.
“Greta” says she raged against Trump in a corridor and urged him to sign the Paris climate agreement.
She adds that the president came over and “softly” cursed “you will never reach the goal” in her ear.
The pranksters try to stop the false anecdote when “Greta” says “he went on, he went on”.
But they are cut off by Kamala who offers words of encouragement for their cause.
“Nothing that has been achieved in this world that has been about progress came without a fight. This is the nature of it,” Kamala said.
“Greta” describes Trump’s actions as “sick” – and then Svante offers the recording to help “against this horrible man”.
Kamala seems interested in getting a copy of the audio – but then she goes to the end of the call, and says, “I look forward to working with you.”
“Greta” and “Svante” then say they will be in the US and offer to meet Kamala, saying “I hope you will not arrest us”.
She can be heard saying “I do not want to go to jail” in the background because Kamala says “no, no, no”.
Kamala completed the call and said, “I look forward to seeing you, be well, and I will talk to you soon, bye bye”.
Theresa Payton, the first female Chief Intelligence Officer at the White House, CEO of Fortalice Solutions, described the call as a “very dangerous game”.
She warned that Kamala could be involved in providing sensitive information that could potentially endanger her – the conversation described as an “alarm clock”.
Payton said: “Often people just assume when they are on the phone, it is safer than on the internet.
“Extra care needs to be taken by the dealers to find out who is calling. A few simple questions and they were able to hand it over to someone in the security team to do a quick check.
“A few quick checks took a few minutes.”
‘STARK REMINDER’
Will Geddes, a former bodyguard who now owns his own company International Corporate Protection Group, also told The US Sun that it is an ‘alarm clock’ for Kamala’s security team.
“It is a well-crafted scam, but it does indicate that it does not have good protocols in place.
“Obviously a senator would not have the same security as in the White House, but it’s about her staff not following protocols to find out who’s on the phone.”
He added: “It’s a strong reminder that there are those who are more evil than humorous intentions.”
Vovan and Lexus have run a string of high profile pranks and posted the calls on their YouTube channel vovan222prank – which has 100,000 subscribers.
The Greta character was used earlier this year to tease Bernie Sanders and Prince Harry.
They promised Sanders that they could arrange Kanye West and Billie Eilish for a ‘cool rap’ for his Democrat campaign.
Harry meanwhile accused Trump of ‘blood on his hands’ in his conversation with ‘Greta’.
He also opened up about his divorce from the British Royal Family with his wife Meghan Markle, saying it was a “this decision was certainly not the easy one”.
“Greta” also spoke with Joker star Joaquin Phoenix and his partner Rooney Mara, before the couple forced it into a prank.
She also managed to use the persona to chat with Billie Eilish.
And back in 2015, the panksters singer Elton John convinced that he was talking to Vladimir Putin about laws on gay rights in Russia.
The singer, who believed he was speaking through an interpreter, said it was a great privilege. . . talk to one of the most influential people in the whole world ‘.
In another audio clip, the couple tricked US Congresswoman Maxine Waters into believing she was helping people in need on the fictional island of Chunga-Changa.
They also spoke with Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Polish President Andrzej Duda and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Vovan and Lexus have previously been accused of stooges with references to Russian security services and the Kremlin.
However, they refuse to work for Putin’s regime – saying in 2016 “we work for ourselves, for no one else.”
Stolyarov told The Guardian: “People always offer us to participate in their dirty games. I was offered $ 100,000 to prank an MP secretly. But we refuse.”
Kuznetsov added: “We only choose the topics that interest us.”
The US Sun has contacted the Biden-Harris campaign for commentary on the prank.
This article originally appeared in The Sun.
