Twitter defends allowing President Trump on the site after Kamala Harris calls for him to be banned

Twitter issued a statement Tuesday defending its decision not to ban President Donald Trump from Twitter for posts some allege violate the site's terms of service, according to the Washington Examiner.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), who has been calling for Trump's removal from the site for some time now, again raised the issue during Tuesday night's Democratic presidential debate, even attempting to get Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) to join her in asking for Trump to be banned.

Twitter's response, essentially, is that while world leaders are not above the rules on Twitter, the public interest must be considered.

"Presently, direct interactions with fellow public figures, comments on political issues of the day, or foreign policy saber-rattling on economic or military issues are generally not in violation of the Twitter Rules," the post from Twitter said. "However, if a Tweet from a world leader does violate the Twitter Rules but there is a clear public interest value to keeping the Tweet on the service, we may place it behind a notice that provides context about the violation and allows people to click through should they wish to see the content. We announced this in June."

Since a whistleblower complaint sparked an impeachment inquiry by Democrats, President Trump has tweeted antagonistically, and in some cases vaguely threateningly, about the anonymous source.

"Here we have Donald Trump, who has 65 million Twitter followers and is using that platform as the president of the United States to openly intimidate witnesses, to threaten witnesses, to obstruct justice, and he and his account should be taken down," Harris said.

Harris, whose campaign has struggled to gain momentum since a first debate performance that analysts believed could elevate her as a contender for the nomination, appears to be on an island with her demands for Trump to be removed from Twitter. Despite Harris's pressure, Warren would not agree that the president should be removed from Twitter.

It also didn't play well for observers, including Democrats such as former Obama administration adviser Tommy Vietor.