FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump looks on, on the day he delivers remarks at a Faith Leaders Roundtable at Zebulon, Georgia, U.S., October 23, 2024. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday blamed AT&T for technical issues in a conference call he held with American faith leaders but the wireless carrier said its analysis showed the disruption was not caused by its network.
Trump urged the wireless carrier's boss to handle the situation and also said his administration may use another carrier's service in other calls.
"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 wrote on social media about the call on Monday afternoon.
"This is the second time it's happened. If the Boss of AT&T, whoever that may be, could get involved — It would be good. There are tens of thousands of people on the line!"
Trump did not elaborate on the specifics of the issue.
AT&T said on X its initial analysis "indicates the disruption was caused by an issue with the conference call platform, not our network."
The company also said it was working to better understand the issue to help avoid such disruptions in the future.
Trump apologized to faith leaders for what he described as a long wait on the conference call.
"We may have to reschedule the call, but we'll use another carrier the next time," Trump said on social media.
AT&T shares pared gains very briefly after Trump's post and then recovered.
During his first White House term, Trump criticized the company, which at the time owned CNN, about the news channel's coverage of his administration.
Earlier this month, Trump's family business licensed its name to launch a U.S. mobile service and a $499 smartphone, calling it Trump Mobile, in a deal brokered by the president's children.
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh, Jasper Ward and David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Cynthia Osterman and Himani Sarkar)
