Secret Channels – “Congress reviews Trump’s government messages on X”

In Washington, it is no longer a rumor but an official proceeding: The United States Congress is already investigating the Trump administration for the alleged misuse of unauthorized communication platforms for government purposes. This is stated in a letter sent on October 29, 2025, by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to X Corp.’s chief financial officer, Anthony Armstrong. It explicitly states:

“Please be advised that an investigation is underway regarding the Trump Administration’s use of unauthorized messaging platforms for government business.”

This wording leaves no doubt: Our research shows that the investigation is already underway, no longer in the application phase, but in the stage of evidence preservation. Congress is demanding that X Corp. secure all communication data, server logs, backups, and metadata – everything related to messages between government officials, including President Donald Trump.

The letter from today, which we have obtained, is a formal preservation order, known in U.S. law as a “Preservation Letter,” and obliges X Corp. not to delete or overwrite any data. It applies retroactively from January 20, 2025, and, according to the letter, covers all private messages on X between or among members of the Trump administration, including the president himself, all accounts, electronic documents, archived data, system logs, and all social media activity.

The senders are Democratic Representatives Robert Garcia of California and Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia, both members of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. In the letter, they write: “We hereby request that X Corp. secure, retain, and make all relevant data available for further investigation. There must be no deletion, alteration, or restriction of access, regardless of whether the data are private, encrypted, or archived.”

The background is explosive. According to information from sources close to the committee, there is suspicion that members of the Trump administration used X – that is, direct messages, closed groups, or encrypted channels – to conduct government decisions, personnel matters, and diplomatic arrangements. If confirmed, this would constitute a violation of the Presidential Records Act, the federal law that defines all official documents, communications, and electronic records as the property of the state.

The letter continues: “This communication may contain relevant, previously inaccessible information about government decisions, personnel actions, or possible conflicts of interest. A failure to preserve such records would constitute a violation of federal law.”

The Democratic representatives also note that X as a platform has repeatedly been the subject of political influence by government officials in the past. The letter emphasizes that any potential deletion or restriction of access to messages could have legal consequences. According to sources close to the committee, it is being considered whether similar requests will also be sent to other platforms to determine whether government officials used the same communication patterns there. A group of advisers in the White House who allegedly used “private channels for official votes” is said to be of particular interest.

In practice, this means that investigators want to determine whether decisions were prepared or approved on X that should have been officially documented – such as appointments, budget allocations, or foreign policy deliberations. According to the committee’s assessment, the use of secret communication channels by government officials undermines public oversight – conduct considered unethical and potentially unlawful. The White House has not yet commented on the request. X Corp. confirmed receipt of the letter but declined to comment on its content.

Behind the façade of an administrative procedure lies a question of enormous magnitude – the attempt to secure digital traces before they disappear. For in detail, it concerns a question of historic gravity: whether the government, led by the president himself, tried to conduct politics in the shadows of the internet. Since its founding in 1927, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has investigated countless scandals, from Watergate to the Afghanistan Papers. Yet never before has it examined the parallel communication structure of a sitting president – and certainly not one based on a private social media platform.

That the investigation is already officially underway is a decisive point. It was not requested; it was initiated. This distinguishes the case from routine inquiries, as are common in Congress. It is part of an active investigation that already involves several dozen staff members. What investigators are now examining is nothing less than the digital architecture of abuse within the White House. And the outcome could reach far beyond Trump’s presidency. If it is confirmed that government decisions were made or concealed via private messaging channels, it would set a precedent – a legal and political turning point.

At the end of the letter, it simply states: “We expect full cooperation and the preservation of all evidence.”