Trump aide: We did not take Trump's Twitter away

 

No, Donald Trump’s Twitter did not get taken away.

At least that’s what Trump’s senior adviser Boris Epshteyn told USA TODAY Monday after a New York Times report Sunday said campaign staff had finally been able to take away Trump’s signature form of communication.

“No one is taking away his Twitter. He’s his own man,” Epshteyn said.

At a campaign rally for Clinton on Sunday, President Obama seized on the Times story.

“Apparently his campaign has taken away his Twitter. In the last two days, they had so little confidence in his self-control they said: ‘We’re just going to take away your Twitter,’” Obama said in Kissimmee, Fla. “If somebody can’t handle a Twitter account, they can’t handle the nuclear codes. If somebody starts tweeting at 3 in the morning because SNL made fun of you then you can’t handle the nuclear codes.”

And on Monday in Ann Arbor, Mich. Obama brought it up again: “If your closest advisers don’t trust you to tweet then how can we trust him with the nuclear codes?"

Trump has been known for putting his unfiltered thoughts on Twitter at all hours, which sometimes has run contradictory to the goals of his campaign. For example, the attempted outreach to Hispanics by tweeting a photo of a taco bowl didn’t quite energize the group the way he had hoped.

His aides have frequently been asked why they haven't just confiscated his Twitter password in an effort to focus his messaging. But his campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, told CNN last month it was not her job.

“It's not for me to take away a grown man's Twitter account,” she said.

Regardless of what team Trump says, his Twitter stream has been restrained in recent days with fewer personal thoughts and more campaign-event promotion.