In a bizarre 9/11 anniversary interview, a prankster poses as Paul Wolfowitz.
On Saturday, a prankster impersonating former Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz deceived conservative television outlet Newsmax during their coverage of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
Wolfowitz was a key figure in the US reaction to the 9/11 attacks, and journalists and news organizations frequently sought his opinion, but he was not the subject of the Newsmax interview.
Newsmax had been pranked by Andy Bichlbaum, a member of the Yes Men, who, according to their website, “destroy brands, create public illusions, collaborate with communities, disrupt events, and impersonate malevolent entities.”
On Saturday, Tom Basile, presenter of Newsmax’s America Right Now, spoke on-air with ‘Paul Wolfowitz,’ and Bichlbaum took advantage of the chance to trash the network.
The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to Bichlbaum, “began on September 11, truly, when Saudi Arabians flew planes into the World Trade Center.”
“But something else began on 9/11 – an other sort of terrorism, much worse than 9/11,” Bichlbaum remarked.
“And the new master terrorists make the previous hijackers look like amateurs,” says the author. “I want you to make a ‘X’ with your hands over your head as if you were defending yourself against something in the sky,” he continued, and one of the co-hosts did.
“Great. You’ve been arrested. As a friend of this station, I have to say that Newsmax poses a far greater threat to America than the 9/11 hijackers,” Bichlbaum continued.
The interview was then brought to a close by Basile and his co-hosts. However, Basile wasn’t the first one to question Bichlbaum, assuming him to be Paul Wolfowitz.
On August 21, Bichlbaum, posing as Wolfowitz, was interviewed on live for 11 minutes, telling Newsmax viewers that the Afghan war had spent $2 trillion.
Bichlbaum’s original goal, according to him, was to pose as a Wolfowitz colleague at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), where Wolfowitz is a senior fellow. He told Newsmax producers that Wolfowitz was having “internet problems” and that he would take his place in the program.
The producers “recommended merely plugging Wolfowitz through on the phone,” and Bichlbaum complied by impersonating Wolfowitz, despite the fact that their voices are uncannily similar. This is a condensed version of the information.
