Several of President Trump’s past endorsements of Sen. Luther Strange disappeared from the president’s personal Twitter account after the Republican senator lost Tuesday’s GOP primary runoff to former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.
Mr. Trump repeatedly touted the Republican incumbent’s campaign on Twitter leading up to Alabama’s special election this week, but at least three of those tweets were scrubbed shortly after Mr. Moore’s victory Tuesday evening.
The deleted tweets include a post from Monday this week endorsing Mr. Strange as the candidate “tough on crime & border,” as well as a pair of tweets sent Tuesday morning urging voters to vote in his favor.
“Luther Strange has been shooting up in the Alabama polls since my endorsement. Finish the job - vote today for ’Big Luther,’ ” Mr. Trump said in one of Tuesday’s since-deleted tweets.
“ALABAMA, get out and vote for Luther Strange - he has proven to me that he will never let you down! #MAGA,” he said in the other.
All three tweets disappeared from the president’s @realDonaldTrump Twitter shortly after Mr. Moore was projected as the GOP primary’s likely winner Tuesday evening and was first noticed by ProPublica, a nonprofit journalism website that tracks Mr. Trump’s deleted tweets.
The White House did not immediately return an email seeking comment Wednesday.
Mr. Trump frequently deletes tweets containing spelling errors and other mistakes, and last month he retweeted and then removed a post that showed a cartoon train hitting a person representing CNN.
The White House has said Mr. Trump’s tweets should be considered “official statements,” giving ammunition to critics who argue that deleting his social media posts may violate federal law requiring the preserving of presidential communications.
Several of Mr. Trump’s previous tweets endorsing Mr. Strange in Tuesday’s race remained visible Wednesday afternoon.
Mr. Strange was appointed to the Senate earlier this year after Jeff Sessions stepped down from that role to serve as Mr. Trump’s attorney general.
Following his win Tuesday evening, Mr. Moore will now compete in December’s general election against former U.S. attorney Doug Jones, a Democrat, for Mr. Session’s old seat.
“Congratulations to Roy Moore on his Republican Primary win in Alabama. Luther Strange started way back & ran a good race. Roy, WIN in Dec!” Mr. Trump tweeted Tuesday evening.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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