In recent weeks, former President Donald Trump, his son Donald Trump, Jr., and five others departed the board of Trump Media & Technology Group, CNBC reported. They cited a recent report by the newspaper the Sarasota Herald Tribune. 

The reports cited a recent filing with the Florida Department of State’s Division of Corporations, which came not long before the company was issued subpoenas from both Florida and New York. The company is being investigated in relation to the SPAC deal that is pending between it and the “blank check” company known as Digital World Acquisitions Corp. 

But even if he has left the board, Trump continues to post to Truth Social and regularly encourages his supporters to use the social network. An official post from the network denied the departure in a social media post, calling it a “conspiracy theory.”

“The conspiracy theory claiming Donald Trump secretly resigned from the board of TMTG began with this ‘exhaustive’ probe of our office by one of the Sarasota Herald Tribune's crack reporters, whose investigative skills apparently do not include ringing a doorbell,” the company’s post said. “The Herald Tribune, The Hill, CNBC, Reuters, Business Insider, Forbes, and the rest of the fake news outlets should retract and apologize for their false statements — though it won’t absolve them of liability for securities fraud.” The post was accompanied by a video of a man walking up to an office, but not knocking. 

But as the Herald-Tribune noted, the company’s “Board of Directors” page appears blank. According to the Wayback Machine, the page was also blank back in February. Other reporting indicated that the filing led to a misunderstanding. However, the filing is real, and does state that those six people, including the two Trumps, indeed departed the board.

This came shortly before the news that Elon Musk is seeking to get out of his agreement to purchase Twitter. Musk had stated that he would reinstate Trump’s account if he took over the company, even as Trump has made clear that he doesn’t want to return to the social network. 

At a rally over the weekend, the former president called Musk a “bullshit artist,” adding that while Musk had claimed recently that he has never voted Republican, Musk told Trump in the past that he voted for him. Musk has recently praised Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is rumored to be pursuing a run for the White House in 2024.

In June of 2017, Musk announced his resignation from Trump’s business councils, after Trump exited the Paris Climate Agreement. 

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.

Image: Reuters