President Donald Trump made what appeared to be a failed attempt to evade his permanent ban from Twitter, and in doing so he may have sunk his campaign’s account as well.
On Friday, the social media company announced that it had permanently banned Trump for multiple rules violations. The action came days after the president was accused of encouraging violence at a rally where he continued to press unfounded claims of voter fraud. After Trump encouraged the crowd to march to the U.S. Capitol, a large group of them surrounded and stormed the building in a siege that left five people dead, including a police officer who was reportedly bludgeoned.
“After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,” the company said in a statement, via CNN .
“In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action.”
Not long after the ban, Trump appeared to try getting around it. He first took to the official account given to the president of the United States to launch an attack against the site, but the messages were deleted in seconds . He later posted a message from the official “Team Trump” campaign page, but that message was soon gone and that account was suspended as well.
?? Twitter has now suspended @TeamTrump The Trump Campaign Twitter account too pic.twitter.com/GnLfhB3SOx
— Ayman (@AymanM) January 9, 2021
It was not immediately clear whether the latest suspension was permanent, but the suspensions could have potentially long-lasting effects. Prior to the attack on the Capitol, Trump had reportedly been planning another run at the White House in 2024, though Democrats are now reportedly planning to pursue a second impeachment that, if successful, could bar him from ever holding office again.
When it first announced the suspension, Twitter noted that any other accounts could be suspended if Trump were to try to use them to sent messages.
“If it is clear that another account is being used for the purposes of evading a ban, it is also subject to suspension,” Twitter said in a statement.
“For government accounts, such as @POTUS and @WhiteHouse, we will not suspend those accounts but will take action to limit their use.”
The @POTUS account, which was first used by Barack Obama before being transferred to Trump, will be transferred to Joe Biden after he is sworn in later this month.