Want to Contact the White House? It's Not Easy

Callers told to use Facebook Messenger, but that's not possible
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 24, 2017 1:02 PM CST
Want to Contact the White House? It's Not Easy
President Trump hosts a reception for House and Senate leaders at the White House on Monday.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

If you'd like to send a message to the White House, you might want to get your smoke signals handy: As of Monday, those calling a White House phone line for public comments were told that the line had been closed. Callers were instead directed to leave a comment on the White House website or reach out via Facebook Messenger. There's just one problem—apart from the fact that 13% of Americans don't use the Internet, according to the Pew Research Center: the White House's official Facebook page doesn't appear to have a messaging option, nor does President Trump's Facebook page, reports Variety. Contrary to reports, the Huffington Post reports the White House call switchboard remains active, but there is no option to leave a comment.

The comment line was also closed during the last few weeks of Barack Obama’s presidency, per Mashable, but the Trump administration has yet to clarify how Americans can now get in touch. The administration also hasn't commented on the removal of the Spanish version of its website, which has angered officials in Spain, reports the Local, noting Trump previously criticized Jeb Bush for speaking Spanish while in the US. "We believe it is not a good idea to give up on such a communication tool, given that this is a country with 52 million Spanish speakers," says Spanish Foreign Minister Alfonso Dastis. (White House pages regarding climate change and LGBT rights also disappeared.)

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