Donald Trump boasts his Twitter account was deleted because he's having such 'impact'

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Donald Trump has responded to the rogue employee at Twitter who deleted his account, suggesting it was done because his account was "finally getting out... and having an impact".

The president's Twitter account was taken down for 11 minutes overnight, in a move that initially appeared to be a mystery. Many speculated that the account might be shut down for good – but Twitter has repeatedly said that it won't ban Mr Trump even if he breaks its rules.

The company explained that it had been done by a rogue employee on their last day, and that it was now looking to avoid such things happening again.

Many of his supporters have suggested that the move was done by someone who was opposed to free speech. British right-wing commentator Paul Joseph Watson, for instance, said that liberals had given up on free speech and instead "have orgasms whenever free speech gets censored, either at the whim of a Twitter staffer or a violent Antifa thug".

Mr Trump, however, only suggested that his account had been removed because it was so important. "My Twitter account was taken down for 11 minutes by a rogue employee. I guess the word must finally be getting out-and having an impact," he wrote.

The post was the first time the President had addressed the controversy, about half a day after it had happened. His response recalled his "covfefe" post – in which he misspelt a word and then appeared to delight in the fact that people were confused or attacking him over it.

He then continued to post about the investigation into Russia, and repeated his suggestion that a similar probe should be launched into the Democrats and the FBI. That was articulated in a flurry of tweets, which swiftly covered up his statement on the deleted account.