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Jason Miller, a former aide to President Donald Trump, was detained at a Brazilian airport on his way back to the United States.
Miller, the founder of the social media site Gettr, was temporarily detained at the airport as authorities in Brazil wanted to question him, Disclose.TV reported on Twitter.
“JUST IN – Jason Miller, Trump aide and CEO of GETTR, has been detained at the Brasilia International airport in Brazil while he was boarding a plane to return to the US,” it said at 11:32 a.m. on the east coast.
JUST IN – Jason Miller, Trump aide and CEO of GETTR, has been detained at the Brasilia International airport in Brazil while he was boarding a plane to return to the US.
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) September 7, 2021
“Miller was reportedly detained to testify to the federal police under investigation 4874, which ‘investigates the organization of anti-democratic acts’ in Brazil. The order came from Alexandre de Moraes, a justice of the Supreme Federal Court,” it said.
It followed that by announcing that Miller and his team had been released and allowed to return to the United States.
“Jason Miller and his team have been released to fly back to the US after being questioned for three hours at the airport,” it said.
In his statement, Miller denied any wrongdoing and said that authorities “wanted to talk, to him and his team.
Jason Miller and his team have been released to fly back to the US after being questioned for three hours at the airport. Statement: pic.twitter.com/48Wr9sZYMw
— Disclose.tv (@disclosetv) September 7, 2021
“This afternoon my traveling party was questioned for three hours at the airport in Brasilia, after having attended this weekend’s CPAC Brasil Conference,” he said.
“We were not accused of any wrongdoing, and told only that they ‘wanted to talk.’ We informed them that we had nothing to say and were eventually released to fly back to the United States,” Miller said.
“Our goal of sharing free speech around the world continues!” he said.
Miller started Gettr earlier this year as a site for free speech.
The platform, known as GETTR, launched on July 4 and its mission statement reads that it is a place that is “fighting cancel culture, promoting common sense, defending free speech, challenging social media monopolies, and creating a true marketplace of ideas,” Politico reported.
Trump’s former spokesman, Jason Miller, is leading the platform. A person familiar described the site as similar to Twitter.
Trump’s involvement with the project is unclear as is whether or not he will set up an account on GETTR and use it, though his proximity to Miller suggests that this may be the latest attempt to get him back in the churn of social media
The former president has been looking for alternative ways to engage with his base online after having been booted off Twitter and suspended from Facebook after encouraging the Capitol rioters on January 6. And his prior effort to engage online—through the launch of a professional blog—ended quickly amid widespread ridicule and poor readership.
GETTR is one of the highest-profile projects in a larger ecosystem of pro-MAGA tech and social media platforms that have blossomed on the right, largely fueled by a sense that Big Tech is attempting to silence conservative and pro-Trump ideology from being disseminated online. In recent months, it was widely reported that the Trump team was searching for a platform on which to re-establish his online presence, either by buying a company outright and rebranding it as his exclusive platform, or becoming a featured draw.
An App Store description of the app calls it a “non-bias social network for people all over the world.”
“The app first went live on the Google and Apple app stores in mid-June and was most recently updated Wednesday. It’s been downloaded over one thousand times on each, drawing positive reviews from users,” Politico said.
Miller announced that the new platform would launch last week.
Jason Miller took to Twitter and announced, “New social media platform coming soon. DM me to have your handle reserved! I’ve already set aside @Crooked for you-know-who.”
New social media platform coming soon.
DM me to have your handle reserved!
I’ve already set aside @Crooked for you-know-who. 😂
— Jason Miller (@JasonMillerinDC) June 26, 2021
