Lara Trump claims ‘Orwellian’ Facebook blocked her interview with her father-in-law

Former president was banned from Facebook and Instagram ‘indefinitely’ following 6 January

Donald Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, has claimed that Facebook removed her interview with the former president “in line with the block” placed on his social media accounts.

Ms Trump, who is married to the president’s second son, Eric Trump, publicized links to the 18 minute clip of her speaking with the former president in Florida on Tuesday on various social media platforms.

In a post on Instagram and Facebook early on Wednesday the newly hired Fox News contributor shared a purported screenshot of an email which implied that content “featuring” the former president “speaking” had been removed by Facebook.

“We are reaching out to let you know that we removed content from Lara Trump’s Facebook page that featured president Trump speaking,” the email purportedly reads.

The text continues: “In line with the block we placed on Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts, further content posted in the voice of Donald Trump will be removed and result in additional limitations on the accounts.”

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The Independent has reached out to Facebook to confirm whether a video was removed and whether the email shared by Ms Trump is legitimate.

“Just like that, we are one step closer to Orwell’s 1984. Wow,” Ms Trump wrote in a caption alongside the purported screenshot.

The former president was banned from Facebook and Instagram “indefinitely” earlier this year following the insurrection at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on 6 January.

Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said that the president had used the platforms to “incite violent insurrection against a democratically elected government”.

The president repeatedly used social media platforms in the run up to the riots to push false election claims and insist that he had “won the election.”

During Ms Trump’s interview with the former president, which was posted on her own website for her show: The Right View, Mr Trump continued to spout false claims about the 2020 election.

He described the country’s voting system as being “third world” and called the election “disgraceful”.

A number of federal and state government officials have confirmed that they have found no evidence that votes in the 2020 presidential election were compromised in any way.

The Department of Justice also said in December that they had found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the wake of the election.

In the interview, Mr Trump applauded his own administration and the pair spent minutes discussing Joe Biden’s recent stumble up the stairs of Air Force One, with Ms Trump saying “it was actually a little upsetting as an American to see him trip up the stairs so many times.”

They emphasized Mr Trump’s apparent efforts to walk down the slight slope accompanied by Superintendent of the United States Military Academy Lt Gen Darryl Williams last year at West Point military academy without falling.

The former president, who has gone to certain lengths on a number of occasions to defend his slow, deliberate walk on a ramp, once again hit out at the negative coverage surrounding the nine-month old appearance.

Mr Trump and his daughter-in-law also lashed out at their perceived lack of freedom of the press in national media, their purported “censorship” on social media platforms and the policies of the Biden administration.