Trump campaign is furious as his voicemail messages are hacked and leaked to media to embarrass liberal friends

Donald Trump's campaign has fired a legal threat against a website that published voicemails hacked from one of the Republican front-runner's telephones, apparently left years ago by MSNBC's Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, NBC News host Tamron Hall, boxing promoted Don King and NFL quarterback Tom Brady.

Hackers linked with 4chan, a chaotic online message board known most recently for publishing hacked nude photos of celebrities in 2014, plumbed the depths of a Trump cellphone that surfaced last April.

Gawker, the gossip website that first publicized that number, also published the voicemails on Friday.

THEY DID WHAT? Hackers unearthed private voicemails on a Donald Trump phone account that appear to show media figures and other celebrities buttering him up

PHILANTHROPIC BROKER? MSNBC's Joe Scarborough apparently left The Donald a voice message to thank him for donating to charity

A Trump campaign spokeswoman told the site that the voicemails aren't necessarily authentic because they came from 'a public phone, not a private phone.'

'As you know, it is illegal to break into phones. We will hold you and all other parties involved responsible.' 

The spokeswoman declined further comment when contacted by DailyMail.com. But Trump is litigious and has sued – and counter-sued – many people over the years who erect roadblocks to his success.

He has argued in the past week during campaign events that he wants to 'open up the libel laws' in America so he can also sue media outlets that publish false information about him. 

Gawker argues that the messages indicate Trump's coziness with 'liberal' news personalities – which would clash with his election-year image as a hard-charging conservative who bashes journalists as 'dishonest' and 'scum' on the campaign trail.

But if the voicemails date from 2012, they would be consistent with his self-groomed image as a former Democrat whose political transformation led him to run for office as a Republican. 

Scarborough, co-host of the 'Morning Joe' program, has been criticized along with Brzezinski for being overly chummy with Trump, giving him a soft-glove treatment when he comes on their show.

'SCANDALOUS!!!' – Joe Scarborough opened up a can of sarcasm on Friday at one of the 'scandalous' hacked voicemails, which he said was a thank-you for Trump's generosity to a children's epilepsy foundation

The MSNBC anchor says in one of the messages that 'the kids want to scream "Thank you" to you, Donald.'

He then has a group of kids yell 'Thank you!'

'We are so, so grateful for everything, Donald, and we just want to call you and tell you how much it means to us,' Scarborough says.

Brzezinski chimes in: 'It was amazing. Thank you, Donald. Hope to talk to you soon. Bye.'

Scarborough explained Friday in a series of sarcastic tweets on Friday that he was thanking Trump for making a charitable contribution, likely a $100,000 gift to an epilepsy campaign helmed by former Barack Obama political strategist David Axelrod. 

'Oh my God. I just read the transcripts! Trump must have contributed to a children's charity. Scandalous!!!' he wrote.

'For the record, we knew Trump as a fellow NBC employee,' he added, referring to Trump's 14-year run hosting 'The Apprentice.' 

'We always asked colleagues for charitable gifts.'  

'We even got Trump to contribute $100,000 to David Axelrod's epilepsy charity when he worked at NBC'

'HEY, BIG GUY!' NFL quarterback Tom Brady appears to have left Trump some of the hacked voicemails

The Tamron Hall voicemails, left by a woman identifying herself only as 'T. Hall.' included a thank-you for access to Trump's unique discount at the Manhattan Gucci sore, which he owns.

'I'm going to use your discount, because there’s a green dress that’s like $3,000, and I need a discount bigger than ... my discount,' she says in the 2012 call. 

'I hope you’re bracing for Romney to get his butt whipped tomorrow by Obama, she adds, indicating that the call was placed in the first week of November that year.

in another message, she upbraided him for a YouTube video – possibly one in which Trump demanded the release of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate, college records, and passport information. 

Other voicemails, which Gawker chose to describe but not publish, were from Brady and King, the website reported.

'Donald, it’s your favorite quarterback,' the New England Patriots star says in one. 

'Hey big guy, it’s your favorite NFL quarterback calling,' he begins another.

Brady's agent Don Yee wouldn't authenticate the messages and said his client 'did not recall leaving any voice messages for Trump,' according to Gawker.

Don King apparently left multiple messages, calling Trump 'Big Don' at one point.

'You’re a Republicrat, that is so great for America,” he said in one.  

'BIG DON': Boxing promoter Don King praised Trump for being a 'Republicrat' – an image that could help him this year as he attracts crossover voters

Trump told DailyMail.com last year that the phone number Gawker had 'outed' was 'an old one that I really don't use much anymore.'

WELL-DRESSED: NBC News host Tamron Hall is alleged to have lewft Trump a voicemail in which she confirms the use of the billionaire's discount at the New York City Gucci store, which he owns

'I have six private cell phones,' he said then. 'It doesn't matter to me one bit. ... Some are super-private, you know. This isn't one of those. There are people who have it.'

'I change them all the time,' Trump insisted. 'I can always just get rid of this one.' 

The hackers who pilfered from that account told Gawker that they accessed the messages by fooling Verizon into helping them reset the password.

They 'just kept hitting buttons,' one of the hackers recalled, until multiple unsuccessful attempts led to an automatic call placed to the phone company.

'That's when we decided to see how far we could get,' according to a message accompanying the audio. 

At that point, they were able to change the outgoing voicemail message – which had been a presidential campaign message – as a way of announcing the hack. 

'It’s Matthew Lillard, also known as TV’s Shaggy Rogers here,' the spoofed message said. 

'And we’re going to make America great again. And this is how you do it. Visit the campaign at boards.4chan.org/b. That’s boards.4chan.org/b.'

'Thank you for supporting Donald Trump. Together, we will make America great again. Hashtag MakeAmericaGreatAgain. Hashtag 1488,' it ended.

The number 1488 is often used by white supremacists to identify each other.

The actor Matthew Lillard is also apparently a victim of the prank and had nothing to do with the hack. 

Gawker first published Trump's phone number in response to one of the billionaire's tantrum-driven campaign stunts, in which he read aloud South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham's private cell number during a 2015 speech.