NEW YORK (VINnews) — The US Department of State’s website erroneously showed President Trump’s presidency as having ended on Mon. Jan. 11 at 7:49 PM ET. The unusual notation could be a “site bug”, as similar issues have appeared in the past on the site, but could also be the work of a “disgruntled employee”, according to a BuzzFeed report. The site also showed Vice President Mike Pence’s term as having ended at 7:44 on Jan. 11.
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Trump’s bio was deleted and replaced with, “Donald J. Trump’s term ended on 2021-01-11 19:49:00,” while Pence’s bio had a similar message saying his term would end “2021-01-11 19:44:22.”
The incident comes less than a week after a day of violence and chaos at the US Capitol, which was breached by a mob seeking to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. Democratics are seeking to invoke the 25th amendment or impeach the president over his support of the insurgents and prevent him from completing his term, which ends on Jan. 20.
The changes on the State Department website began showing at around 3 p.m. ET on Jan. 11. As of 3:45 p.m., Trump’s biography page had been taken down completely.
“We’re sorry, this site is currently experiencing technical difficulties,” the error message reads. “Please try again in a few moments.” Pence’s biography page is still up.
According to BuzzFeed,Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has kicked off an investigation into the issue.
The White House, the State Department and the Department of Justice didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
