Twitter said Tuesday it's not taking any action on grotesquely abusive tweets by impeached U.S. President Donald Trump about the 2001 death of a woman who once worked as a congressional staff member for Joe Scarborough, after her husband asked the company to remove the false and personally harassing tweets.
As Mark wrote earlier today on Boing Boing, “Twitter says it's "deeply sorry about the pain" Trump's tweets have caused,” and by day's end, it's now clear they are officially not doing anything at all to address the situation.
In a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey that was also published by the New York Times, Timothy J. Klausutis asked Twitter to take down the Trump tweet “alluding to the repeatedly debunked falsehood that my wife was murdered by her boss, former U.S. Rep. Joe Scarborough.”
“Lori Klausutis, who had an undiagnosed heart condition, fell and hit her head on her desk at work — Her death was ruled an accident,” Reuters reports:
Trump said he had seen the family’s letter, but stood by his comments, telling White House reporters: “I’m sure that ultimately they want to get to the bottom of it … It’s a very suspicious thing.”
A Twitter spokeswoman said the tweets would remain.
“We are deeply sorry about the pain these statements, and the attention they are drawing, are causing the family,” the spokeswoman said in a statement when asked about the president’s tweets on Scarborough, now an MSNBC television host with whom Trump has brawled.
Last year, Twitter said it would start labeling tweets from prominent politicians and government officials that broke its rules but that it deemed were in the public interest. The spokeswoman declined to say why these tweets did not fall within that policy.
More at Reuters:
Twitter says it is not removing Trump tweets on deceased Scarborough staff member
Earlier today at Boing Boing:
• Twitter fact-checks Trump tweet for first time
• Twitter says it's "deeply sorry about the pain" Trump's tweets have caused
