President-elect Donald Trump will maintain his personal Twitter account and other social media after his inauguration on Friday, transition officials told NBC News.
The move comes amid uncertainty over how Trump’s administration will use White House-certified handles, including @POTUS and @FLOTUS.
Also unclear is how Trump’s presidential communications will be saved, as required by law.
Related: President-Elect Trump Defends Use of Twitter Amidst Democrat Attacks
Barack Obama has maintained two Twitter accounts during his presidency, one official, the other personal.
The president-elect’s advisers told NBC News that Trump wants to continue building his base of roughly 20 million followers, which exceeds Obama’s official Twitter account, with its 13.5 million. (Obama’s personal account has 80.5 million.)
In an interview with the Times of London published Sunday, Trump attributed his Twitter habits to the media, asserting that he had been covered unfairly.
Pointing out that he had 46 million followers across different social media accounts, Trump told the newspaper: “I'd rather just let that build up and just keep it @therealdonaldtrump. And the tweeting, I thought I would do less of it but I am covered so dishonestly by the press, so dishonestly.”
Trump used his Twitter account to unprecedented effect during the campaign and after the election, often dominating news cycles with all manner of claims and commentary on everything from Ted Cruz’s wife to Saturday Night Live and Rep. John Lewis’ assertion that he is an illegitimate president.
Trump also retweeted what appeared to be anti-Semitic imagery and an account associated with an apparent neo-Nazi.
In his interview with the Times, Trump boasted of his media strategy.
"I can go bing bing bing and I just keep going and they put it on and as soon as I tweet it out," he said.
