Trump to his own cyber director at a cybercrime event: ‘I never heard your damn name’

The White House billed Wednesday’s event partly as a crackdown on impersonation scams, the kind where someone pretends to be somebody they’re not. The president opened by admitting he’d never heard one of his own officials’ last name.

Working down the list of officials at the table, Trump got to “National Cyber Director Sean,” then a long squint at the surname, then: “Where are you, Sean? Where the hell is he?” Then the pledge: “I got to get this name so perfect.” He sounded it out, “Cairncross. Is that good?”, and then explained: “I see you all the time, but I never heard your damn name.” The man is Sean Cairncross, whom the Senate confirmed as national cyber director in August 2025. Trump, generously: “It’s a nice name, actually.”

About three minutes earlier, he’d had a go at the crime itself, listing “fraud, ransomware, impersonization,” and then, in case it didn’t stick, “the schemes that they use for impersonization.” The word is impersonation. The White House had told Reuters the event would highlight the fight against online impersonation scams.

So, at the big anti-impersonation summit, the president invented a word for impersonation, then introduced a man he says he sees all the time and had never heard named. The scam centers must be terrified.