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President Donald Trump on Monday criticized telecommunications giant AT&T after his conference call with faith leaders from across the country was disrupted.
“I’m doing a major Conference Call with Faith Leaders from all over the Country, and AT&T is totally unable to make their equipment work properly,” Trump stated on social media. “There are tens of thousands of people on the line!”
This marked the second time problems had occurred, Trump said, calling on the company’s leadership to take action to address the problems.
He did not provide specific details about the issues experienced during the call. In a separate post, Trump apologized to faith leaders for the long wait on the conference call.
Trump suggested rescheduling the call for another time and said they would use a different carrier’s service the next time. “AT&T ought to get its act together,” he stated.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared a screenshot of Trump’s post on the social media platform X, prompting a response from AT&T.
In its reply, the company stated that it had contacted the White House about the president’s complaint and was working to understand and assess the situation.
AT&T issued a follow-up statement just hours later, saying that its initial analysis indicated “the disruption was caused by an issue with the conference call platform” and not the carrier’s network.
“Unfortunately, this caused the delay, and we are working diligently to better understand the issue so we can prevent disruptions in the future,” the company added.
AT&T experienced a brief decline in its share price on Monday. The company is currently led by chairman and CEO John Stankey.
The Epoch Times reached out to AT&T and the White House for further comment but did not hear back by publication time.
In February, Trump signed an executive order establishing the White House Faith Office, assigning it with “lead responsibility in the executive branch to empower faith-based entities, community organizations, and houses of worship to serve families and communities.” The office is spearheaded by Pastor Paula White-Cain.
The order states that the office will consult with experts, as well as faith and community leaders, to develop policy recommendations on protecting women and children, strengthening families and marriages, promoting work and self-sufficiency, protecting religious liberty, combating faith-based discrimination, reducing crime, and other priorities.
It will also help identify and promote grant opportunities for nonprofit faith-based entities, community organizations, and houses of worship.
