MANILA — A senior Trump administration official, who was falsely reported as the next US envoy to the Philippines, created a fake Time magazine cover with her face on it and exaggerated her professional background in her resumé, NBC News reported Wednesday.
Mina Chang, the deputy assistant secretary in the State Department's Bureau of Conflict and Stability Operations, brought a Time magazine cover with her face to a 2017 interview where she described her work in disaster response, said the report.
The cover is "not authentic," Time magazine spokesperson Kristin Matzen was quoted as saying by the broadcaster.
Chang, who assumed her post in April, also "inflated her educational achievements and exaggerated the scope of her nonprofit's work," the report said.
The 35-year-old Chang "invented a role on a UN panel, claimed she had addressed both the Democratic and Republican national conventions, and implied she had testified before Congress," NBC News said.
In her official biography, Chang said she is an "alumna" of Harvard Business School. The university said Chang attended a 7-week course in 2016, and does not hold a degree from the institution, the report added.
Chang helps oversee efforts to prevent conflicts from erupting in politically unstable countries in her current post, earning a "6-figure salary in a bureau with a $6 million budget", said NBC News.
The report said Chang was considered for an even higher government post in which she would have overseen the US Agency for International Development's work in Asia.
Her nomination to the job, which had a budget of more than $1 billion, was withdrawn on Sept. 9 without public explanation after senators asked her for more documents and details about her nonprofit organization and work experience, NBC News said.
It said Chang, the State Department and the White House did not respond to requests for comment.
The Philippine Star and political news website Politiko in July reported that Chang was going to be America's next representative in the Philippines, which the US Embassy belied.
source: news.abs-cbn.com
