Rogue Employee, Not Hacker, Posted Pro-Trump Tweet, California Court Says
"The post did not reflect these core values and the Court recognizes the use of its resources to support partisan political causes is entirely inappropriate," Stanislaus County Superior Court said in a statement Friday. "The Court apologizes to the community and realizes it has the responsibility to do better."
June 12, 2020 at 05:14 PM
3 minute read
The original version of this story was published on The Recorder
Stanislaus County Superior Court said Friday that an employee, not a hacker, as the court originally announced, tweeted from the court's official account promoting the reelection of President Donald Trump and chastising protesters removing confederate statues in Virginia.
The court announced Thursday that it will launch a full investigation into the incident and will take "appropriate action consistent with its personnel rules and applicable law."
The tweet, published Thursday afternoon, reposted a video uploaded from One American News Network anchor Alex Salvi featuring protesters tearing down statues within a Confederate monument in Portsmouth, Virginia, reporting that at least one person had been critically injured from a falling statue.
"Some like their karma instantly. I'll take mine in November. #Trump2020," the employee wrote, retweeting the video.
In a news release, the court said its mission was to provide equal access to justice and to serve the community with "integrity, quality and fairness."
"The post did not reflect these core values and the Court recognizes the use of its resources to support partisan political causes is entirely inappropriate," the court wrote in the statement. "The Court apologizes to the community and realizes it has the responsibility to do better."
On Wednesday, about an hour after the employee's now-deleted tweet, the court posted an apology for "any tweets that may have gone out today," claiming that the account's password had been compromised.
The court also pared down the number of accounts it is following from 30 to 20. One of those dropped was the account of former New York State judge and Fox News host Jeanine Pirro.
On Thursday, the court removed a Twitter "like" from a clip of Pirro's show about David Dorn, a retired St. Louis police captain and black man killed while trying to protect a pawn shop from looters.
The court said Friday that as a result of the incident it is imposing additional restrictions on access to its social media accounts. The social media slipup came the same day every member of the California Supreme Court issued a statement condemning racism "in all its forms," following the public and law enforcement response to the death of George Floyd, a black man who died after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
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