The Trump administration launched a revamped America.gov on 29 September at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington. Its AI-generated answers contradicted several of President Donald Trump’s public positions, and some answers changed while he was speaking at the launch, the Associated Press reported.
Key points
- America.gov says its AI answers draw on “official government sources”.
- Its initial replies differed from Trump’s statements on the 2020 election, a third term, the Pentagon, climate change and presidential pay.
- During the launch event, the site began declining questions it described as political.
The administration presented the revamp as a way to make information and services spread across government agency sites easier for Americans to reach. America.gov says its answers are produced with artificial intelligence using “official government sources”. That description mattered on launch day: the replies drew on federal information even when it conflicted with positions the president had taken in public.
America.gov’s answers on elections and term limits
Asked about the 2020 presidential election, the site initially answered: “Official federal sources do not show that widespread fraud changed the 2020 presidential election outcome. Isolated election crimes did occur and have been prosecuted.” Trump lost that election to Joe Biden but has repeatedly claimed that widespread fraud deprived him of victory. Recounts and audits found no significant fraud in the presidential election, and Trump’s administration at the time said the election was clean.
A question about Trump running in 2028 produced an answer grounded in the constitutional limit on election to the presidency. “The 22nd Amendment says that no person shall be elected President more than twice. Donald J. Trump has already been elected twice (2016 and 2024). I am not giving legal advice.” Trump has suggested seeking a third term and has discussed ways of doing so, while also acknowledging that the Constitution prohibits it. He told NBC News earlier in his second term that “There are methods which you could” use to seek a third term.
These were answers to questions about the president’s own political history and plans, delivered through a government site whose stated source material was official information. The initial election answer addressed Trump’s fraud allegation directly. The answer about 2028 instead gave the rule and Trump’s election history, ending with a qualification about legal advice. Both were among the replies available before the site began turning away political questions during the event.
The Pentagon and federal climate-science pages
On the Pentagon, America.gov replied: “The Pentagon is the headquarters of the Department of Defense.” Trump signed an executive order in 2025 aimed at rebranding the department as the Department of War. He had complained that the Department of Defense name was “woke”. The website’s answer used the existing department name rather than the one Trump sought to promote.
The climate answer also set federal source material alongside a presidential position. “Federal climate-science pages say recent warming is largely from human greenhouse-gas emissions, mainly burning fossil fuels. Earth’s climate has also changed for natural reasons over long periods,” the site replied. Trump has called climate change a “hoax”. He previously issued an executive order directing the Environmental Protection Agency to report on “the legality and continuing applicability” of the endangerment finding, a focus of efforts by conservatives and some congressional Republicans to undo greenhouse-gas rules they regard as economically damaging.
The department and climate replies concerned different kinds of government material. One identified the department headquartered at the Pentagon after an order aimed at changing its name. The other described what federal climate-science pages say about warming. In each case, the site supplied an answer at odds with a position Trump had expressed, rather than adopting the language of his remarks.
Trump’s salary claim and a changed reply
Presidential pay supplied another discrepancy at the launch. Trump said in his remarks that he was the first US president to forgo a salary, a claim he has made before. Asked about the subject, the chatbot mentioned Trump but also named George Washington, Herbert Hoover and John F. Kennedy as presidents who declined to keep their pay before him.
While Trump was still speaking on 29 September, America.gov began changing its answers. Asked again about the 2020 election, it said it could not answer “political questions”, the Associated Press reported. The site gave the same response to questions about whether Trump had been impeached or convicted of felony charges.
