Folks online noticed something odd on Monday. President Donald Trump's biography on the State Department website suddenly said his "term ended on 2021-01-11 19:45:20." That's today.
Now, let's be clear. This almost certainly doesn't indicate Trump is going to vacate his office today. In fact, soon after people noticed the what was up with the State Department website, Christopher Miller with BuzzFeed News reported that it was the work of a disgruntled staffer, according to two "current-serving diplomats." Vice President Mike Pence's page contained a similar message.
UPDATE: Sources tell @BuzzFeedNews a "disgruntled staffer" is behind the State Department site's change of Trump and Pence's biographies. More TK. https://t.co/5Gbb3cEhRK
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) January 11, 2021
NOW: U.S. State Department webpage says President Trump & Vice President Mike Pence’s terms “ended” today, but then it lists an hour & minute that hasn’t yet occurred: 19:40:41 / 7:40pm.
Something isn’t right.
Expect statement from @StateDept soon. https://t.co/Od5tY4v2yK pic.twitter.com/DCFKCmgwPQ— David Begnaud (@DavidBegnaud) January 11, 2021
Mashable has reached out to the State Department for comment but has not yet received a response. In the meantime, tweets flew in as the nation waited for an official explanation. It's all people could post about. And the jokes were fantastic.
Donald Trump retire glitch
— Farmer Jones (@thefarmerjones) January 11, 2021
the password to the Department of State's CMS... is love pic.twitter.com/9THFG5f0ls
— Daniel D'Addario (@DPD_) January 11, 2021
I had to pic.twitter.com/kYEzS6H1Wq
— Spencer Althouse (@SpencerAlthouse) January 11, 2021
Really excited for my first day as webmaster for the US State Department. Now to take a big sip of coffee and see what everybody is talking about
— Brandon Wall (@Walldo) January 11, 2021
me to state department website pic.twitter.com/RJBJkoRaeA
— rat king (@MikeIsaac) January 11, 2021
Half the planet just went to the State Department website then checked their watch.
— Jeffrey Wright (@jfreewright) January 11, 2021
The State Department social media manager deciding to end the Trump presidency: pic.twitter.com/G3jYWhWYIh
— Sam Stryker (@sbstryker) January 11, 2021
At the time of publishing, both biographies for Donald Trump and Mike Pence were redirected to a 404 page.
Image: screenshot/state.gov
To be clear, President Donald Trump is still president...for now. President-elect Joe Biden is, however, scheduled to be inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2021. BuzzFeed reported that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had ordered an investigation into the website change, "beginning with interns and employees leaving the State Department this week and next ahead of the transition."
So while Trump reportedly isn't stepping down, it's not totally wild to think the president might resign, considering he incited his supporters to carry out a deadly insurrection on the U.S. Capitol last week. Many have called for the president to be removed from office, either by the 25th Amendment or by impeachment, which House Democrats have indicated they'll soon vote on.
WATCH: How to recognize and avoid fake news
Follow Mashable SEA on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube.
