Donald Trump camp denies reports he has been banned from Twitter

Campaign spokeswoman insists he has not lost his Twitter privileges, then hurriedly moves conversation on

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump attends a campaign rally in Sarasota, Florida, U.S. November 7, 2016 (REUTERS/Carlo Allegri)

Donald Trump’s spokeswoman has denied reports the Republican nominee has been banned from posting on his Twitter feed without the approval of his campaign staff.

A report by the New York Times suggested Mr Trump’s aides had wrestled control of the page from him to avoid any acts of self-destruction in the crucial final hours of his campaign.

The report presented Mr Trump as jittery and struggling to restrain himself after being hit by pre-election nerves, with the decision to revoke his unsupervised Twitter access made in the hope of preventing any damaging outbursts.

His tweets during the last three days have all been carefully constructed, bland and on message, thanking rallies and reinforcing the “Make America Great” again slogan of his campaign.

But his team insists he has not lost his Twitter privileges.

“No, it’s not true,” Kellyanne Conway, Mr Trump’s spokesperson, told Today when asked about the report. She then launched into a monologue about Mr Trump’s strengths, quickly diverting the conversation away from the subject. “I think Donald Trump is at his very best when he is talking about the issue…”

Mr Trump’s lively tweets and his lack of restraint on Twitter have come to characterise his campaign. If a controversy arises or a detractor steps forward, his 13 million followers are usually the first to read his response.

When an audio resurfaced showing his lewd “grab em by the p***y” comments, in the midst of an unprecedented furore he addressed his remarks with a casual observation: “Certainly has been an interesting 24 hours!”