OPM denies federal government website shutdown reports: 'False rumors'

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) said it gave no orders to shut down government websites amid confusion over complying with a new Trump administration policy requiring agencies to scrub any mentions of diversity on their site.

The OPM said it has no intention of taking down all agency websites and called the reports a “false rumor.”

“OPM sent guidance to agencies to remove gender ideology-related content from their websites by 5 pm today as part of the efforts to defend women and uphold the truth of biological sex against the radical claims of gender activists," an office spokesperson told The Hill.

"This may have been misinterpreted to mean we would shut down government websites who weren’t able to comply but that is not the plan for continuing to implement this important effort," the continued.

While the website for the census appeared to be down Friday evening, several other major agency sites were still up and running.

President Trump said he didn’t know about the plan when asked about government websites potentially being shut down so they could be scrubbed for information about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

“I don’t know, it doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me. DEI would have ruined our country,” the president said earlier Friday. “If they want to scrub the website, that’s OK with me.”

CBS News reported Friday that the memo to take steps to scrub agency websites was “misinterpreted.”

Updated at 7:54 p.m. EST

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