The place’s the lacking Trump telephone? Lawmakers demand solutions

My colleague C. Scott Brown ordered the T1 Cellphone again in June. Seven months later, he nonetheless doesn’t have the Trump telephone, a delivery date, or a lot readability on what he truly paid a $100 deposit for. Now, that long-running mess could also be about to attract federal scrutiny, after Democratic lawmakers requested the Federal Commerce Fee to analyze Trump Cell over alleged false promoting and misleading practices.

The request comes in a letter (h/t The Verge) from 11 Democratic lawmakers, led by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Robert Garcia. It focuses on Trump Cell’s still-unreleased T1 Cellphone, introduced greater than six months in the past and nonetheless accepting deposits regardless of not but delivery something to prospects.

The letter additionally presses the FTC on course of, asking whether or not any inquiry into Trump Cell is already underway. If not, the lawmakers ask why the company has but to behave, and request assurance that Trump Cell will likely be handled no otherwise from every other firm going through comparable allegations.

Of their phrases, the end result issues past this one product. “The American individuals should know that shopper safety legal guidelines apply equally to all companies,” the letter states, framing the FTC’s response as a check of whether or not these guidelines are enforced constantly, no matter political associations.

The lawmakers additionally be aware this isn’t their first try and get solutions. They are saying a separate letter despatched final summer season that requested how regulators would keep away from political stress when coping with Trump Cell went unanswered. With prospects like my colleague nonetheless ready for telephones promised months in the past, this saga appears set to rumble on.