President Donald Trump's tweets, strongly supporting the candidate and a Republican from Alabama Sen. Luther Strange in GOP primary runoff, were deleted from his official Twitter page on September 26, CNN reported. ProPublica, a nonprofit organization that produces investigative journalism, archived the tweets.
Strange came to the Senate some months ago after Jeff Sessions vacated his seat to become attorney general.
In one of the deleted tweets, Donald Trump wrote: "Vote for Senator Luther Strange, tough on crime & border –will never let you down!”
The details of President Trump's support
President Trump went to a rally for Strange on Friday. Strange was the only candidate who lost the election after having been endorsed by President.
The tweets were deleted after Strange was beaten by Roy S. Moore, who previously worked in the Alabama Supreme Court. Leading establishment Republicans were opposite him. President Trump, who had previously called on voting for Strange, switched to Moore's support.
On September 27, Donald Trump wrote on his Twitter: "Congratulations to Roy Moore on his Republican Primary win in Alabama.
Luther Strange started way back & ran a good race." Moore will take part in the race to take the place of Attorney General Jeff Sessions on the Senate term up to 2020.
It was noted that President Trump deleted only his last tweets about Strange, but Trump's previous tweets supporting him were left.
Trump was criticized for deleting his posts
Donald Trump has often deleted his tweets to correct typos or spelling but quickly posted their fresh version. Now he seems to have deleted his last tweets permanently, and it may be regarded as a violation of the Presidential Records Act, the law which was established almost 40 years ago. According to the Act, the president's communications and other records are required to be saved for eventual public release even after he leaves office.
Government watchdog organizations Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington and the National Security Archive claimed that President Trump may be breaking the law.
In June, they stated that deleting any of online posts is against the Act. The groups also require the White House officials to archive the records sent through messengers and social media, the Washington Post reported.
The White House officials refused to comment on the news about President's deleted tweets.