Trump ‘may turn off the internet’ if re-elected, former aide says

Miles Taylor says he worries former president would weaponise his powers during a second term

One of Donald Trump's former staffers claims the former president may "turn off the internet" if he is re-elected.

Miles Taylor, Mr Trump's former chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security, made the claim during an appearance on MSNBC.

Mr Taylor was asked what kind of damage Mr Trump could potentially do if he were re-elected to the Oval Office in 2024.

"The possibilities are almost limitless," Mr Taylor said. "The biggest concerns for me are on the national security side. I think Americans still don't understand the full extent of the president's powers and things Donald Trump could do, bubble-wrapped in legalese, that would be damaging to the republic."

He claimed that Mr Trump could "invoke powers we've never heard a President of the United States invoke" which include decisions to "potentially shut down companies or turn off the internet, or deploy the US military on US soil".

"We don't know because the things that are in there, the emergency powers of the president, aren't widely known to the American people," he said.

He said the potential for Mr Trump to use his presidential powers as bludgeons against his political enemies is "a big worry for people like me and others".

"But that weaponisation of the government could extend across the interagency to places where we haven't seen it before — the Department of Education, the Department of Veteran Affairs — ways to wield that power and those budgets to help his allies and to hurt his enemies," Mr Taylor said.

Mr Taylor's claims were examples of what Mr Trump could potentially do using presidential powers, not necessarily a reflection of what the former president plans to do if re-elected.

In 2015, Mr Trump did suggest he was open to the idea of restricting the internet in some cases.

"We're losing a lot of people because of the internet," Mr Trump said at the time. "We have to go see Bill Gates and a lot of different people that really understand what's happening. We have to talk to them about, maybe in certain areas, closing that Internet up in some way. Somebody will say, 'Oh freedom of speech, freedom of speech.' These are foolish people. We have a lot of foolish people."

It's unlikely Mr Trump would fully disable the internet in the United States; not only would it cripple commerce and create mass public upheaval, he also is a prolific user of social media and frequently calls for donations using his campaign website.