Trump’s ‘Desk’ Blog Page Shuts Down, Won’t Be Returning: Spokesman

Former President Donald Trump participates in the Salute to the Heroes of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection in the East Room at the White House in Washington on Aug. 20, 2018. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

Former President Donald Trump’s social media-like blog page that he used to post statements has been shut down, according to a spokesman.

When one attempts to access the page, “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump” on his website as of Wednesday morning, it directs the user to a website to sign up for email alerts.

Trump aide Jason Miller told The Hill and other news outlets that the site won’t be returning, saying it was “auxiliary to the broader efforts we have and are working on.”

“Hoping to have more information on the broader efforts soon, but I do not have a precise awareness of timing,” Miller said, according to CNBC.

The Epoch Times has reached out to Trump’s team for comment.

Since leaving office in January, the former commander-in-chief has relied on sending out emailed statements and the “Desk” website to provide updates and comments to his supporters. Trump’s accounts—which had tens of millions of followers—on Facebook, Twitter, and other Big Tech sites were suspended after the Jan. 6 Capitol incident.

In a statement last week, Trump suggested that his new social media platform will be launched soon and claimed corporate media outlets posted false information about the traffic that was being directed to his “Desk” website.

Describing his website as a “temporary way of getting” his message out, Trump noted that it “is a place where everyone can see my statements, issued in real time, and engage with the MAGA Movement.”

“This is meant to be a temporary way of getting my thoughts and ideas out to the public without the Fake News spin, but the website is not a ‘platform,’” according to Trump’s statement. “It is merely a way of communicating until I decide on what the future will be for the choice or establishment of a platform. It will happen soon. Stay tuned!”

The “Desk” blog was unveiled several weeks ago by Miller as a “communications platform,” not a new social media website.

In a tweet on May 4, Miller wrote that Trump’s “website is a great resource to find his latest statements and highlights from his first term in office, but this is not a new social media platform” and added that “we’ll have additional information coming on that front in the very near future.”

On May 6, Twitter suspended an account, “From the Desk of Donald J. Trump,” claiming that it was an attempt to evade his suspension.

“As stated in our ban evasion policy, we’ll take enforcement action on accounts whose apparent intent is to replace or promote content affiliated with a suspended account,” a spokesperson for Twitter said at the time. However, sources told the New York Post that the account was not set up by anyone close to Trump or Trump himself.