In another apparent case where too much power has (possibly) been given to a single person, an unnamed U.S. State Department official is held responsible for the agency’s website, which displays text indicating that U.S. President Donald Trump was no longer in office on January 11th.
Background:
Hey @StateDept, what do you know that the rest of us don’t?
“Donald J. Trump’s term ended on 2021-01-11 7:49:00 PM.” pic.twitter.com/Ntl1BSqsb9
– Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) January 11, 2021
Buzzfeed’s Christopher Miller appears to be the first to report changes have been made to the President’s page on the US State Department website that reads, “Donald J. Trump’s term ended 12/17/2020 at 11:04 am: 57 o’clock. “
The timestamp (2020-12-17 11:04:57 above) seems to change between different cached versions, with many (including the one in Miller’s tweet) showing January 11th as the date instead of January 12th.
A screenshot from the web cache.
It appears the State Department removed the current live version of the page at the time of this writing. You’ll get a 404 error indicating that the file was removed from the server.
Take it quickly: Miller followed up her previous tweet with one indicating that Buzzfeed sources were telling the outlet that the change was made by someone inside.
UPDATE: Sources report @BuzzFeedNews that a “disgruntled employee” was behind the State Department’s change to Trump and Pence biographies. More TK. https://t.co/5Gbb3cEhRK
– Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) January 11, 2021
This is easy enough to laugh at as a prank or act by a peaceful activist. The reality, however, is that there appear to be parties within the U.S. State Department who have administrative access to the agency’s actual website and code, and for whatever reason are willing to act against the order and loyalty to the government agency operating you are. have pledged to serve.
In other words, it is yet another sign that the current White House administration and heads of government in the US seem to have less control over their own offices and agendas than they seem. And that says something in connection with the coup attempt earlier this month.
Development….
TNW has contacted the State Department for a comment and will update this article as we receive new information.
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