Former President Donald Trump.
AP Photo/Joe Maiorana
- Andy Dean Litinsky, a senior exec at the company behind Truth Social, left months ago Reuters reports.
- Litinsky is a former “The Apprentice” contestant who reportedly pitched Truth Social to Donald Trump.
- The company lost two other senior executives, including technology chief Josh Adams, in April.
A founding executive at the company behind Donald Trump’s social media app, Truth Social, quietly left the company months ago, Reuters reported Monday.
Andy Dean Litinsky — who sometimes goes by just Andy Dean — appeared as a contestant on the first season of “The Apprentice” with Trump in 2004, and was hired by Trump in 2006 to head up his production company Trump Productions.
The New York Times, The Guardian, and Reuters reported Litinsky pitched the idea for Truth Social to Trump along with fellow former “The Apprentice” cast member Wes Moss in January 2021.
One source told The Guardian in April that Litinsky and Moss were the “senior, day-to-day leadership” at Trump Media and Technology Group, the company behind Truth Social.
A source told Reuters Litinsky departed “months ago,” but the source did not give any reason why he had left or an exact date.
Insider sent a request for comment to Litinsky via his consulting and production company ZideLitinsky Media and did not receive an immediate response.
Litinsky isn’t the only high-profile departure from TMTG in recent months.
TMTG’s technology chief Josh Adams and head of product development Billy Boozer resigned in April, Reuters reported at the time.
A SPAC called Digital World Acquisition Corp is currently in the process of trying to acquire TMTG. That acquisition is under scrutiny from both the Securities and Exchange Commission and a grand jury.
TMTG ran into problems long before it became the subject of regulatory scrutiny, according to Reuters.
Reuters reported TMTG found it difficult recruiting tech workers to build Truth Social, partly because of the company avoided hiring people with left-wing views and partly because many tech workers didn’t want to take a job there.
Reuters also reported TMTG struggled to find vendors, and the tech team had to race to get the app ready in time for its February launch date.
Reuters contacted TMTG for comment on its report and received a statement Shannon Devine, managing partner at investor relations company MZ Group.
Devine said Reuters’ report contained “false and defamatory statements” and said it “includes misleading assertions and omits material facts.”
Devine did not specify which parts of the reports were false and did not reply to a follow-up request for comment, Reuters said.
TMTG did not immediately respond when contacted by Insider for comment outside of usual US working hours.
