Reports circulated Friday that former President Donald Trump had made his return to social media on Gab, a social network that champions free speech, individual liberty and the free flow of information. That wasn’t exactly the case.
According to reports, a letter was posted to Trump’s Gab account addressed to Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin, who recently called on the former president to testify at his second impeachment hearing next week.
The letter reads, “We are in receipt of your latest public relations stunt. Your letter only confirms what is known to everyone: you cannot prove your allegations against the 45th President of the United States, who is now a private citizen.”
“The use of our Constitution to bring a purported impeachment proceeding is much too serious to try to play these games,” the letter continued.
Many media outlets reported that this was Trump’s return to social media.
According to Vice, Gab CEO Andrew Torba created Trump’s account five years ago. It was designed to be a placeholder for when Trump eventually decided to join the platform, and in the meantime it acted as a mirror of Trump’s Twitter account, automatically reposting Trump’s tweets and archiving them.
Since Trump’s Twitter account was banned last month, Trump’s Gab profile has been silent. On Friday, the account posted an update. Many assumed that Trump had finally taken control of his Gab account.
Torba fired back at the media, saying the company had been “transparent” about the purpose of the account from the beginning.
In a statement, Torba said that Trump does not use the social media platform and the @realdonaldtrump Gab account is not run by Trump.
Torba added that the reason Trump is not using the platform is because “dopey advisers like Jared Kushner” are keeping the former president off the site.
“We will go on the record stating that we know 100% for a fact that Jared Kushner is actively trying to keep Trump off Gab and has been for weeks. Because Gab is the only safe place left for conservatives that means Kushner is trying to keep Trump off the Internet. Why?,” Torba wrote.
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