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Did Nazis escape on a UFO? Dev who asked the question just built the official White House app.

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Why This Matters

This article highlights how the White House's official app was developed by a small business owner with a background in conspiracy theories and paranormal interests, raising questions about the influence of personal beliefs on government projects. It underscores the importance of scrutinizing the backgrounds of developers involved in critical government technology to ensure transparency and security for consumers and the industry alike.

Key Takeaways

On March 27, the White House announced a “powerful new official mobile app,” calling it “the fastest, most powerful way to stay informed and engaged with the Trump Administration.”

While armchair developers and infosec experts have questioned some of the app’s technical design choices, a former FBI special agent uncovered an unusual fact: The small business owner behind the White House app has a side hobby as a conspiracy theorist.

The White House app was created by 45Press, a company based in Canfield, Ohio, a town of fewer than 8,000 people located roughly halfway between Cleveland and Pittsburgh. (Donald Trump was the 45th president of the United States.) The company’s website describes it as a “design, development, and DevOps agency” and a WordPress VIP Agency Partner; it lists Amazon, NBC, and Sony as past clients.

According to his own X account, the CEO of 45Press, Joel Kendall, has a “hobby” running a social media presence and store under the name “Sir Storia,” which he calls “a website directory of historical and paranormal locations. If it was historical, paranormal or unexplained, we want it added!”

In August 2025, Kendall created a (now-defunct) online store offering T-shirts for sale of what he called “the most famous UFO events that ever happened in Ohio.” In a Facebook post, Kendall said he hoped his shop would be “the @walmart for UFOs, UAPs, Aliens, Paranormal and much more!”