Before being removed from office and social media, Donald Trump’s private company allegedly negotiated a deal with Parler, the social media platform popular with right-wing users and used by many during the Capitol riots last month. .
The agreement – which never fully materializes – offers the former president a 40 percent stake in the company in exchange for his exclusive use of the platform, BuzzFeed News reported.
Since then, ethical experts have expressed concern about the talks, saying they may have violated anti-bribery laws. Trump was reportedly still in the Oval Office. It remained unclear how involved the former president could be in the discussions, which were reportedly arranged by his former campaign manager, Brad Parscale, as well as an advocate for the campaign, Alex Cannon.
Along with investors for the company, former Parler CEO John Matze met with Trump’s assistants last year to discuss the proposal: the former president will post his statements and content exclusively on the company’s social media site for four hours place, before posting the material across other platforms – with links going back to the original Parler content.
In statements to BuzzFeed NewsMr. Parscale claims the former president ‘was never part of the discussions’ he described as ‘never so substantial’. ”
He added: “It was just one of the many things the campaign explored to address the cancellation culture of Silicon Valley.”
Mr. Parscale was removed from his post in the Trump campaign and effectively kicked out of the former president’s inner circle after falling out of his favor.
An adviser to the company also said BuzzFeed News the former president was not involved in the discussions, adding: “We talked to several people about possible interests in the company to produce certain things.”
Yet some groups suggested that the discussions could violate anti-bribery laws, even without the full realization of the final agreement or the direct involvement of the president, including the government oversight project.
Scott Amey, chief board member for the nonpartisan watchdog group, told the news agency: “Courts have found that Trump’s posts on social media were an official undertaking while he was in office.”
He added: ‘His posts were a preferred method for the White House to communicate with the public. If the offer includes anything of value, and Trump plans to post it on a social media platform while still in office, it will be illegally illegal, and he must be held accountable. ”
Walter Shaub, former director of the Office of Government Ethics, tweeted about the news: “Apart from all the other problems with this, the government argued that Trump’s tweets were official expenses.”
He added: ‘Parler would have paid Trump to put official spending on his platform. The corruption was bottomless. We must demand important ethical reforms and strong ethical leadership.
Parler was removed from the app stores of Amazon, Apple and Google after the deadly riots in Capitol, and officials from major tech companies said they did not adequately address users’ messages with threats of violence. The former chief executive then argued that the closure in court was done “in part” to deny President Trump a platform, while claiming he had expressed an interest in joining the website.
Mr. Trump was also removed from the vast majority of social media platforms after the riots after posting videos and messages during the uprising in which he continued to promote false allegations of a stolen election. The former president was charged a second time by the House of Representatives for inciting the uprising.