White House conference call gets ‘nasty’
By: Jeff Dufour and Kiki Ryan
Washington Examiner
04/02/09 5:06 PM EDT
Porn-y Foreign Policy
A few reporters got more than they bargained for Thursday when they called into a phone number provided by the White House to hear Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Adviser Jim Jones discuss the NATO Summit.
“Do you have any hidden desires?” asked the breathy voice on the other end of the line. “Well if you feel like getting nasty, you came to the right place.” The recording went on to ask for a credit card number so the call could be billed at the rate of $2.99 to $5.99 per minute.
You see, whoever copied the phone number into the press release was off by one digit — and what a difference a digit makes. Instead of getting AT&T conference call service, they were directed to the “Swank” phone sex line.
According to Fox News’ Kelly Chernenkoff, who first wrote about the snafu on FoxNews.com, the only way to actually get through to the call was to try the international call-in number.
“Hours after the original press release with the incorrect number was put out, the White House sent a corrected version,” writes Chernenkoff. “But the conference call was already under way. Even later, a release was sent out noting, ‘If you are having trouble dialing into the call, please try this number as an alternative,’ and listed the international line.”
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