Donald Trump Jr.’s Twitter sent out an alarming tweet about his father Wednesday morning, which was the result of a hacker.
Trump supporters were sent reeling when his son’s account shared a tweet announcing his death. The tweet remained visible for over 30 minutes before it was finally deleted by his team, who was able to regain access to the profile, Variety reports.
“I’m sad to announce my father, Donald Trump, has passed away. I will be running for president in 2024,” the tweet read.
Another tweet stated, “F*** Joe Biden,” before they were all scrapped from the site.
Trump Jr.’s advisor, Andrew Surabian, also confirmed that none of the tweets came from him. The timing of the hack coincides with Elon Musk’s struggle to rid the platform of bots and identify cyberattacks. Despite this, in November 2022, Musk eliminated tweet sources, which made it harder to spot hacks in some instances. He is now exploring the possibility of making Twitter subscription-based in an effort to combat bots.
In another flurry of illegitimate tweets, Trump Jr.’s account showed support for YouTube cryptocurrency influencer Richard Heart. He is facing a mountain of charges for defrauding investors out of millions through his multiple crypto ventures. In the tweet, the hacker wrote, “Richard Heart is innocent; when I become president, I am going to burn the SEC.”
Despite the brief online chaos, all seems to be well now with Trump Jr.’s Twitter account, though he nearly gave his father’s supporters a heart attack.
