In the early days of Donald Trump’s second presidency, his administration already overhauled the federal government’s online footprint.
The White House website no longer has a Spanish version. It has removed a disclaimer that promised to make it accessible to people with disabilities. And several federal agencies have removed web pages related to reproductive rights and diversity.
It’s standard for a new president to remake the White House website to reflect his administration’s goals and values, and some of the missing pages appear to be temporary changes.
But other deletions from government websites, which NBC News verified with archived versions of government websites, appear to reflect Trump’s commitment to right-wing culture war issues in his second term.
Not only has the Spanish version of the White House website, La Casa Blanca, been removed, but also its three official social media channels: Facebook, Instagram and unknown – all seem to have been eliminated.
While a Spanish version of the White House website dates back at least to George W. Bush’s presidency, two previous administrations, both Trump’s first and Barack Obama’s, took months to relaunch.
Neither the White House nor the Trump transition team responded to requests for comment, but a White House spokesperson told USA Today that the site, as well as a page of the Constitution that has been removed, will be restored as for federal web developers to finish reviewing the site. redesign.
A whitehouse.gov statement on accessibility, which was released on the last day of Biden’s presidency, also appears to be missing. The page previously said the site met international standards that make websites accessible to people with disabilities. Department of Justice guidelines state that all government websites must meet those standards to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Those guidelines include providing alternative text on images so that visually impaired people who use machine readers can understand the images, offering audio descriptions for the hearing impaired, and making all websites keyboard-operable for users who cannot use a conventional mouse.
The White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention, active since Saturday, also disappeared.
Outside the White House, some federal executive branch agencies have also taken down websites, in what appear to be more deliberate actions that reflect Trump’s priorities.
The Health and Human Services website that outlines Americans’ legal rights regarding reproductive health care, reproductiverights.gov, is unavailable. It was live last week. HHS did not respond to an email requesting comment.
The Department of Labor appears to have taken down a resource website for LGBTQI+ workers that was active last month. He did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At least three federal departments have removed web pages on diversity, equity and inclusion, a target for conservatives and the Trump administration. An executive order Trump signed Monday requires the Office of Personnel Management, which functions as the federal government’s human resources department, to end all DEI programs.
While the OPM overview page explaining DEI as a priority is still functional, the Chief Diversity Executive Council homepage, which was active earlier this month, has been removed.
The National Institute of Food and Agriculture has also removed a statement about its commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility. The Defense Information Systems Agency removed a page that described its Office of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion as of last year.
None of those three agencies responded to a request for comment.
At least one agency preemptively closed its DEI office even before Trump took office. The FBI closed its Office of Diversity and Inclusion in December, after Trump’s election but before his executive order, an agency spokesperson told NBC News. The spokesperson did not respond to a follow-up question about why the agency made that decision.
Donald Sherman, executive director of the progressive government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, told NBC News that the deletions reflected priorities laid out in Project 2025, the far-right administration plan that Trump rejected in the campaign but which his team has since adopted. his victory.
“I think it’s a direct reflection of Project 2025,” Sherman said. “It is important to remember that Project 2025 was carried out little by little. In virtually every section, it explicitly mentions undoing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives.
