’We will not be silenced’: Donald Trump hits out after Twitter bans his account
Donald Trump has attempted to get around his permanent Twitter ban — but has hit a series of roadblocks as he told supporters to stay tuned.
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Donald Trump has lashed Twitter after it “permanently suspended” his account.
In a now-deleted series of tweets posted from @POTUS, the official Twitter account of the US President which Mr Trump has largely rejected during his term, he said Twitter had conspired with the “radical left” to silence him.
“As I have been saying for a long time, Twitter has gone further and further in banning free speech, and tonight, Twitter employees have coordinated with the Democrats and the Radical Left in removing my account from their platform, to silence me — and YOU, the 75,000,000 great patriots who voted for me,” Mr Trump wrote.
The outgoing US President said he and his supporters would “not be silenced”, and would look at “building out our own platform in the near future”.
“Twitter is not about FREE SPEECH. They are all about promoting a Radical Left platform where some of the most vicious people in the world are allowed to speak freely.”
He concluded: “STAY TUNED!”
It came after Twitter “permanently suspended” Mr Trump’s personal accout, @realdonaldtrump, after the company determined his tweets had breached its rules against “the glorification of violence”.
Mr Trump appears to have made multiple efforts to get around his Twitter suspension, commandeering accounts tied to his campaign.
However, the social network has shut those down too, in addition to purging others from his inner circle.
Mr Trump appeared to briefly take over the account of his campaign digital director Gary Coby, before using the Team Trump campaign Twitter profile to send his message. Both are now suspended.
Twitter also shut down accounts belonging to Trump attorney Sidney Powell, former national security advisor General Michael Flynn, and 8Kun (formerly 8Chan) co-owner Ron Watkins for violating its “coordinated harmful activity” policy.
“We’ve been clear that we will take strong enforcement action on behaviour that has the potential to lead to offline harm and given the renewed potential for violence surrounding this type of behaviour in the coming days, we will permanently suspend accounts that are solely dedicated to sharing QAnon content,” the company said in a statement.
Mr Trump’s permanent suspension — effectively a ban on his account — follows a 12-hour suspension earlier this week after he posted a video telling rioters storming Washington’s Capitol building “we love you, you’re very special”.
It also comes just one day after Facebook announced it would suspend Mr Trump’s account for at least two weeks — the remainder of his presidency — as founder Mark Zuckerberg said the “risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great”.
In a statement, Twitter said it had made the move to freeze Mr Trump’s account “due to the risk of further incitement of violence”.
“In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter rules would potentially result in this very course of action,” the company said.
“Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open.
“However, we made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things.”
The company said it had assessed Mr Trump’s two tweets following his 12-hour suspension, praising “American patriots who voted for me” and saying they would not be “treated unfairly in any way” and that he would not be attending President Elect Joe Biden’s inauguration as part of a broader context of violence.
“As such, our determination is that the two tweets above are likely to inspire others to replicate the violent acts that took place on January 6, 2021, and that there are multiple indicators that they are being received and understood as encouragement to do so.”
Mr Trump had more than 88 million followers on Twitter before his account was permanently suspended.
Twitter’s move in the last days of Mr Trump’s presidency also comes after 350 of its employees implored co-founder and chief executive Jack Dorsey and other top executives to remove his account, calling its earlier 12-hour suspension inadequate.
The Washington Post reported the internal letter also asked for “an investigation into how our public policy decisions led to the amplification of serious anti-democratic threats,” and said the social network had served as “Trump’s megaphone” to incite the Washington riots.
FIFTEEN PEOPLE CHARGED OVER CAPITOL VIOLENCE
The US Justice Department announced on Friday (local time) that it has charged 15 people involved in the assault on Congress, including one man accused of possessing bombs made to act like “homemade napalm.”
But Ken Kohl, a federal prosecutor with the Washington US attorney’s office, said they did not expect to charge anyone with “incitement” or “insurrection” in Wednesday’s violence, amid calls for legal action against President Donald Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and others for encouraging it.
The department unveiled the cases against 13 people, including Richard Barnett, a Trump supporter who invaded the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Lonnie Coffman of Alabama, who was found carrying two handguns and had 11 Styrofoam-enhanced Molotov cocktails in his truck.
Others whose charges were unsealed include Christopher Albert of Maryland, who allegedly entered the US Capitol with a loaded handgun; and Mark Leffingwell, charged with punching an officer.
Most of the 13 were charged with illegal entry into restricted buildings of Congress, and violent or disorderly conduct.
They were also charged with impeding government functions after forcing the shutdown of a joint meeting of Congress to officially certify that Trump rival Joe Biden had won the November 3 election, which Trump had until Thursday refused to accept.
Barnett, famously photographed with his feet on a desk in Pelosi’s office, was charged with theft of stationery.
“The lawless destruction of the US Capitol building was an attack against one of our nation’s greatest institutions,” said Acting US Attorney Michael Sherwin in a statement.
Mr Kohl said that not all the charges filed over Wednesday’s violence had been unsealed, and that more were in the pipeline as the FBI investigates.
“This investigation has the highest priority,” he said, with “hundreds” of Justice Department investigators working the case.
More charges and arrests were expected.
Around 40 people were arrested and charged by local Washington police, mostly for curfew violations, weapons offences and unlawful entry.
But the charges announced by Kohl Friday were on the federal level and potentially carry heftier punishment.
He said the FBI was not investigating anyone on possible “incitement” or “insurrection” charges.
Some people have called for Trump, Giuliani, Trump’s son Donald Jr. and others to be charged with incitement for openly encouraging the president’s supporters to take action just hours before the mob stormed the Capitol.
“We don’t expect any charges of that nature,” Mr Kohl said
BIDEN REFUSES TO TAKE STANCE ON DEMOCRATS’ IMPEACHMENT MOVE
Joe Biden has distanced himself from a move to impeach Donald Trump, as top US military officials have been asked to put in place measures to curb the US President’s ability to launch a nuclear strike.
Quizzed over reports that Democrats could introduce articles of impeachment as soon as Monday (local time) unless Mr Trump steps down willingly or is removed by Cabinet, the President-elect responded: “What the Congress decides to do is for them to decide.”
He said his priority presently was preparing for his new administration and had three main concerns: the coronavirus, vaccine, and economic growth.
“I’m focused on the virus, the vaccine and economic growth. What the Congress decides to do is for them to decide. But I’m going to have to, and they’re going to have to be ready to hit the ground running, because when Kamala and I are sworn in, we’ll be introducing immediately significant pieces of legislation to deal with the virus, deal with the economy, and deal with economic growth,” Mr Biden said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not comment on when the impeachment process could commence following a lengthy conversation with her Democratic colleagues.
She said Democrats of the house hoped Mr Trump would “immediately resign" but if he did not, action would be taken.
“Today, the House Democratic Caucus had an hours-long conversation that was sad, moving and patriotic. It was a conversation unlike any other, because it followed an action unlike any other,” Mrs Pelosi said.
“It is the hope of Members that the President will immediately resign. But if he does not, I have instructed the Rules Committee to be prepared to move forward with Congressman Jamie Raskin’s 25th Amendment legislation and a motion for impeachment. Accordingly, the House will preserve every option – including the 25th Amendment, a motion to impeach or a privileged resolution for impeachment.
“With great respect, our deliberations will continue.
Earlier, Mrs Pelos said she had sought a guarantee from military chiefs that they would prevent a nuclear launch by Mr Trump.
She spoke to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff about curbing Mr Trump’s ability to launch a military or nuclear strike.
“This unhinged President could not be more dangerous,” she said in a statement.
TRUMP TO SKIP BIDEN INAUGURATION
Meanwhile, Mr Trump has confirmed he won’t attend Joe Biden’s inauguration.
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going,” Mr Trump tweeted.
The statement scuppered any idea that Trump might seek to spend his remaining 12 days helping his Democratic successor to calm tensions.
To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2021
Not since 1869 has an outgoing US president missed the inauguration of the incoming leader, a ceremony symbolising the peaceful transfer of power.
Mr Biden said it was a “good thing” Mr Trump would not be attending.
“He’s exceeded my worst notions about him. He’s been an embarrassment for the country and embarrassed us around the world. He’s not worthy to hold that office,” Mr Biden said.
He said Vice President Mike Pence would be “welcome” at his inauguration.
Mr Biden, who won seven million votes more than Mr Trump, as well as a decisive majority in the vital state-by-state Electoral College, will be sworn in on the Capitol Steps under huge security.
Between drastic COVID-19 crowd restrictions, the absence of Trump, and a new “unscalable” fence thrown up around the congressional complex, there will be little of the ordinary inauguration vibe.
PROBE INTO US CAPITOL COP’S DEATH
Washington DC authorities opened a federal murder case over the death of a Capitol police officer who died from injuries incurred while fighting off rioters.
The passing of Officer Brian Sicknick late Thursday night brought to five the number of deaths from the breach of the Capitol.
“The death of Officer Sicknick will be investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department’s Homicide Branch, the USCP, and our federal partners,” said the Capitol Police in a statement.
Mr Sicknick, 42, died a day after collapsing when he returned to his division office. Police told the New York Times and Associated Press that he had been struck on the head with a fire extinguisher.
Police vehicles formed a motorcade early Friday in front of the Capitol and drove to the Washington Monument to honour the fallen officer.
A Trump-supporting Navy veteran, Ashli Babbitt, 35, died after being shot by police in the neck when she was trying to enter the House Chamber and three others died in ”medical emergencies”.
Investigations into the melee have resulted in dozens of arrests, with 24 rioters appearing in DC Superior Court on Thursday night, local time. One man was arrested with a military style semiautomatic weapon and 11 Molotov cocktails.
TRUMP SUPPORTERS WON’T BE ‘DISRESPECTED’
Mr Trump’s new-found voice of calm in which he finally conceded to Mr Biden the night before didn’t last long, with his earlier return to Twitter a familiar marshaling of his followers.
Although he had finally conceded to Mr Biden the night before and promised an orderly transition of power, he said his MAGA followers would “not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form”.
The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2021
Bleeding support, blamed and shamed by fellow world leaders and starved of his social media audience, Mr Trump on Thursday had issued a late-in-the-day condemnation of the mob he had instigated and called for “unity” and “healing”.
“Tempers must be cooled and calm restored,” he said in a video speech from the White House.
“We must get on with the business of America.”
Mr Trump also warned that offenders would be punished.
“To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country,” he said.
“And to those who broke the law, you will pay.”
Mr Trump had insisted until this point that he could still retain the presidency despite none of his claims of electoral fraud being proven.
“My campaign vigorously pursued every legal avenue to contest the election results,” he said.
“My only goal was to ensure the integrity of the vote.”
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