Trump slammed after sharing tweet naming alleged whistleblower
BBC, Online
US President Donald Trump is facing staunch criticism for retweeting a post that included the alleged name of the whistlebower whose complaint led to the presidents impeachment.
Mr Trump shared a post from a user named @surfermom77, who described themselves as a 100% Trump supporter.
The retweet was later removed from the presidents Twitter timeline but could still be found via a direct link.
Mr Trump has repeatedly called for the whistleblower to be identified. The US has federal laws that guarantee the protection of whistleblowers, designed to shield those who come forward with evidence of wrongdoing by the government.
In November, lawyers for the whistleblower - who is said to work in the US intelligence community - issued a cease-and-desist warning to the president, saying their client was in physical danger. But the president ignored the warning and continued to call for them to be named.
Previous posts by @surfermom77 - the Twitter user retweeted by President Trump - include anti-Islam content and posts spreading the false conspiracy theory that President Barack Obama was a Muslim.
According to a report by the Associated Press, the account bears the hallmarks of an automated bot account, including an unusually high amount of activity and profile pictures featuring stock images from the internet.
The accounts profile picture - a stock photo of a woman in business attire that was pulled from the internet - was changed on Saturday to an image of Mr Trump.
Facebook has a policy of banning posts that name the alleged whistleblower, the New York Times reported, but Twitter does not. In a statement issued to the Associated Press, Twitter said the @surfermom77 tweet was not a violation of the Twitter Rules.
