Timothy Klausutis, husband of Lori Klausutis, the former Scarborough staffer who died of a fall, has gone public with a heartbreaking plea to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to take down Trump's tweets alleging she was murdered by Joe Scarborough.
Kara Swisher, the prominent Silicon Valley journalist, wrote a column in support.
"She writes this, 'Please delete those tweets,' the widower begged to Twitter's chief executive, Jack Dorsey. 'My wife deserves better.' Yes, Twitter, Lori Klausutis deserves better," writes Kara.'
"Two decades after she died in a tragic accident that's morphed into a continuing nightmare for her husband, Timothy, the boogeyman plunging him and his family into the worst of memory holes is a conspiracy theory loving, twitchy fingered, and shameless tweeter, who also happens to be the president of the United States, Donald J. Trump.
" 'President Trump on Tuesday tweeted to his 80 million followers, alluding to the repeatedly debunked falsehood that my wife was murdered by her boss, former U.S. Representative Joe Scarborough. The president's son followed and tweeted to his followers, spreading this vicious lie,' wrote Mr. Klausutis in a letter written to Jack Dorsey. 'I'm having to ask you to intervene because the president of the United States has taken something that does not belong to him, the memory of my dead wife, and perverted it for perceived political gain.'
"Again, reading from T.J.'s letter, Kara goes on to write, 'Mr. Klausutis deserves an answer from Mr. Dorsey, who has the unenviable task of sorting out the unsortable, the ugly heart of Twitter's most famous customer. Executives have been trying to figure out what to do over the weekend. The company has, at this writing, been silent about this controversy involving Mr. Trump's appalling and rule-breaking Twitter habit. This episode is not unlike other infamous stories floating around social media, like the inhumane speculation of the death of a Democratic National Committee staffer Seth Rich, or the ocean of nasty misinformation about the murders of the children of Sandy Hook Elementary, that got Alex Jones deservedly thrown off several platforms.'
"Kara goes on to write, 'But this mess is perhaps the high tide of that endless skew of toxic bile because it is being relentlessly amped up by the leader of the free world. The Trump/Scarborough duo means less. They are both famous and have to suffer. The real issue is the very serious collateral damage of this fight, which is the postmortem libel of Ms. Klausutis."
Swisher writes that Twitter executives are discussing whether the label the tweets as false and link to reporting that refutes Trump's insinuations, but says this plan is "naive and ineffective."
" 'Most people's experience tracks with that old axiom, a lie can travel halfway around the world while truth is getting its shoes on. In the digital age, it'd be to the moon and back 347 times. I am in support of the suggestion Mr. Klausutis makes in his letter, to remove the offending tweets. Perhaps a board to review tweets could include Mr. Klausutis, who might know more than most people about the price of this.' "
Geist quoted Klausutis: " 'I have mourned my wife every day since her passing. I have tried to honor her memory and our marriage, with the kind of enduring dignity that would be nice to see from more of our leaders. There has been a barrage of falsehoods, half truths, innuendos, and conspiracy theories since the day she died. It is unfortunately the verifiable truth. Because of this, I have struggled to move forward with my life.'
Swisher writes, "It is long past time to let him do that. Most of all, to let Lori Klausutis rest in peace."
