T1 Phone PR firm is ‘not assisting Trump Mobile any further’

Where’s the Trump phone? We’re going to keep talking about it every week. We don’t have the phones we preordered yet, but this week we received unexpected news from Trump Mobile’s media relations manager. If you’ve been following my reporting on the Trump phone, you’ll know that Trump Mobile doesn’t exactly keep open lines of communication with the media. That doesn’t look to be changing, with the company no longer working with its long-term media relations firm. Poplar Group has represented Trump Mobile since at least last June, when the company’s founding partner Chris Walker gave a statement to USA Today, insisting at the time that “T1 phones are proudly being made in America.” That, of course, is not true, which even Trump Mobile now admits. I’ve spoken to Walker a few times, and he offered to expedite the delivery of The Verge’s two T1 Phone orders, though we’re still waiting. This week, he told me that his team “is not assisting Trump Mobile any further.” He didn’t know if the company had retained a new PR firm in Poplar’s place. Perhaps with the phone now launched, the company doesn’t think it needs to put up with the press any longer. Of course, the extent of that launch remains unclear: A handful of media have the phone, and there are at least a couple of people on Truth Social and X who seem to be genuine buyers, but that’s about it so far. For more on the Trump phone, check out my big wrap-up of its first birthday. Got inside information on Trump Mobile or the Trump phone? Reach out securely from a personal device to tips@theverge.com, or see our How to Tip Us page.