Twitter says it won't remove Trump's tweets about Joe Scarborough
Twitter on Tuesday said it won't delete tweets from U.S. President Donald Trump pushing a baseless conspiracy theory about the death of a former congressional staffer to now-MSNBC host Joe Scarborough.
The president has repeatedly tweeted that Scarborough - a former Republican Congressman - should be investigated for the death of Lori Klausutis in 2001, even though her death was ruled an accident
Trump tweeted in early May, “When will they open a Cold Case on the Psycho Joe Scarborough matter in Florida. Did he get away with murder? Some people think so.”
In an email - a spokeswoman for Twitter said the tweets would remain and that Twitter is "deeply sorry about the pain these statements, and the attention they are drawing, are causing the family."
She added the platform is working on making changes to address issues like these.
Twitter has come under pressure to remove the president's tweets - including a plea from Lori Klausutis's widow.
Last week - in a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, published by the New York Times, Timothy J. Klausutis said "These conspiracy theorists, including most recently the President of the United States, continue to spread their bile and misinformation on your platform disparaging the memory of my wife and our marriage."
He asked that the company remove a tweet by the president "alluding to the repeatedly debunked falsehood that my wife was murdered by her boss, former U.S. Rep. Joe Scarborough."
When asked about the president's tweets at the White House, Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany deflected:
Reporter: "Why won’t the president give this widower peace and stop tweeting about this conspiracy theory involving his wife?"
Press Secretary McEnany: "I've already answered this question. Our hearts are with Lori and I think the onus is on Joe Scarborough to explain his interaction with Don Imus & laughing on this very matter."
Scarborough was far away on the night in question and police said they found no evidence of foul play.
Scarborough's co-host and wife Mika Brzezinski has also urged the tweets be removed, including on their program "Morning Joe" -- which has been highly critical of the president during his term.
Still, Twitter isn't bending and Trump hasn't stopped tweeting.
Again on Tuesday - he said that "the opening of a Cold Case" against "Scarborough was not a Donald Trump original thought, this has been going on for years, long before I joined the chorus."
