Donald Trump, May 18, 2020. – Brendan Smialowski / AFP
The widower of a woman at the center of a conspiracy theory relayed by Donald Trump on Twitter called the boss of the social network to intervene to delete the messages of the American president on his account, without effect for the moment. The President’s messages were directed to MSNBC cable presenter Joe Scarborough, former politician who was friend of Donald Trump before criticizing it openly on the air.
The affair evoked by the president goes back to July 2001. At the time, Lori Klausutis, a parliamentary assistant who worked for Joe Scarborough, then republican deputy, had made a fatal fall in an office. The autopsy then concluded that the 28-year-old woman had collapsed after a heart attack, falling on the corner of a desk and fracturing her head.
Joe Scarborough, who announced that he would give up his mandate in May 2001 but did not leave Congress until September, then made a career in the media and now hosts the Morning Joe, where he regularly criticizes the President.
Several websites and blogs have since maintained the conspiracy theory that Lori Klausutis was murdered, with no tangible evidence to back it up. On Sunday, as he had done several times since 2017, Donald Trump took it. “I think there is a lot more to say about this story?” A relationship? “Tweeted the President.
A letter to the director of Twitter
This time, Lori Klausutis’ widower wrote to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey asking him to intervene. The existence of the letter, dated last week, was revealed on Tuesday. “Please delete these tweets,” asked Timothy Klausutis, in this letter relayed by several American media. “My wife deserves better than that. “
“I ask you to intervene because the President of the United States has appropriated something that does not belong to him: the memory of my missing wife, and perverted it by political calculation,” continued Timothy Klausutis. “We are deeply sorry for the pain the family caused the statements and the attention they received,” a Twitter spokesperson told AFP.
“We are working to extend the characteristics of our product and our regulations so that we can deal with issues like this more effectively in the future,” he added, adding that these changes should take place “quickly”.
On Tuesday, Twitter boss Jack Dorsey had not reacted publicly to this request and the social network had not deleted the offending tweets. Donald Trump regularly relays conspiracy theories, although most have been shown to be false.
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