A page at the State Department’s website briefly declared an end to President Trump’s term in office on Monday afternoon.
“Donald J. Trump’s term ended on 2021-01-11 19:39:22,” a presidential biography page declared.
That’s not true, of course, although the scores of lawmakers who would like to impeach Trump a second time as punishment for the attack on the Capitol last week may wish it were so. The page has been taken down.
“We’re sorry, this site is currently experiencing technical difficulties,” the error message now reads. “Please try again in a few moments.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reportedly has ordered an investigation into how the edits were made. “It could have been a bunch of people, but was likely a lower level technical staffer,” a former State Department official familiar with how the site is managed told the Washington Examiner.
The erring editor made a similar change to Vice President Pence’s biography page. “It’s 100%, not a hack,” a diplomat told Buzzfeed, citing the security of the management software.
