On Wednesday, a hacker took control of Donald Trump Jr.’s account on X and posted a series of messages, claiming that his father had passed away.
These now-deleted posts also included a racial slur directed at President Joe Biden. The account, which boasts 10 million followers, had these posts up for less than an hour before they were removed.
The Trump Organization stated that the account had been hacked.
One of the posts stated, “I’m sad to announce, my father Donald Trump has passed away. I will be running for president in 2024.”
Another post made a provocative remark about North Korea, mentioning they were “about to get smoked.” Additionally, one post referred to “some interesting messages” involving convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
The hacker also mentioned individuals such as Richard Heart, a cryptocurrency influencer facing fraud charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and YouTuber Logan Paul.
These posts began appearing after 08:00 ET (12:00 GMT).
While his son’s account falsely claimed his passing, former President Donald Trump posted an unrelated message on his Truth Social account. Andrew Surabian, a spokesman for Mr. Trump Jr., confirmed that his account had been hacked and emphasized that the claim of his father’s demise was “obviously not true.”
Although Mr. Trump Jr. has resumed posting on X (formerly Twitter), he has not directly addressed the account compromise, apart from liking a tweet that mentioned the hack.
Efforts to obtain a comment from X regarding the incident have been made, but an automatic response from the company’s press email indicates they are currently occupied.
Despite the incident, Mr. Trump Jr. continues to actively use the Elon Musk-owned platform, X.
It’s worth noting that Truth Social, founded by the former president after his X account suspension in 2021 due to concerns of incitement of violence, was later reinstated in November of the same year. Elon Musk took control of Twitter in a $44 billion deal in October 2022 and subsequently renamed it X.
