Fallout from U.S. Capitol riots

Hello, it is Tuesday, January 12. Today I’ll continue to cover the fallout from the U.S. Capitol riots.

President Donald Trump spoke to reporters this morning at the White House and at Joint Base Andrews. First I will show you a clip where Trump criticizes the impeachment process and warns that it is causing tremendous anger.

[Video clip from CNN]

Now, here is a clip from the military base in which Trump criticizes big tech’s bans and said his speech on January 6 was totally appropriate.

[Video clip from MSNBC]

We can see that he is trying to say that it is Democrats who are causing anger and that he had no role in the U.S. Capitol riots.

Trump is visiting the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas today to praise the border wall.

Democrats in the House plan to vote tonight to formally call on the Vice President to invoke the 25th amendment to remove Trump from his office and take over.

House Democrats will vote tomorrow morning to issue an impeachment charge against Trump for inciting violence against the government of the United States.

Joe Biden’s inauguration will take place next Wednesday.

The D.C. Mayor Bowser requested an emergency declaration which would free up resources and the White House approved it last night. The National Guard will deploy up to 15,000 troops to D.C. for the inauguration.

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Last night Twitter announced it has suspended over 70,000 accounts associated with QAnon since Friday. Twitter said these tweets were removed because they had the potential to lead to offline harm.

[Screenshosts of Twitter announcement]

What is QAnon? QAnon is a bizarre idea that says Donald Trump is fighting against a secret group of powerful pedophile liberals who worship Satan and would arrest them in a day called “the storm.”

The group started to rise in popularity in recent years.

Ashli Babbitt, who is the U.S. Air Force veteran who was shot and killed by Capitol police when she tried to jump through a door, was a strong supporter of QAnon. She is seen in an image wearing a QAnon t-shirt during a Trump boat parade in San Diego.

On the day before Babbitt died, she tweeted about a “storm.”

Two other QAnon followers were pictured in the riots — the first is the guy with the horned headwear. His nickname is “Q Shaman.” The second is a man who is seen in a video chasing after a U.S. Capitol Police officer. He was wearing a “Q” t-shirt. Both have since been arrested and charged.

It’s worth noting that the Twitter ban against QAnon meant Michael Flynn’s Twitter account was suspended.

Flynn posted a video on the Fourth of July in which he raised his hand in an oath and recited a popular QAnon slogan, “Where we go one, we go all.” Check out this clip from MSNBC.

[Video clip from MSNBC]

Another QAnon supporter who was suspended is Sidney Powell, who was Flynn’s attorney and who became well-known in recent months for filing several lawsuits seeking to overturn Trump’s election losses by making allegations of fraud or wrongdoing.

Powell’s lawsuits were dismissed by judges in Michigan, Georgia, Arizona, and Wisconsin for lack of evidence, and last week, Dominion sued Powell seeking $1.3 billion in damages for spreading disinformation.

So, that’s the QAnon controversy.

Facebook announced they are removing content that has the words, “Stop the steal” to stop misinformation and content that could incite further violence ahead of Joe Biden’s inauguration.

Facebook said those involved in Wednesday’s violence in D.C. used the slogan “Stop the steal.” This is confirmed by looking at images from that day.

Facebook said they work with law enforcement when there is a risk of physical harm or direct threats to public safety. Facebook has already suspended Trump’s Facebook account.

We know that a key reason for people’s anger on January 6 is the belief that there was massive fraud during the election. However, Trump’s side has never been able to prove it in courts of law and before the Supreme Court that the ballots cast in multiple states were fake or illegal. There have been no major criminal indictments or investigations opened in election fraud. So the logical conclusion is that Trump is making up the allegations of election fraud.

As a journalist and someone who loves America, my wish is to see Trump invite Joe Biden to the White House to signal a peaceful transfer of power. America is a democracy, which means our government leaders are made up of elected representatives. The people choose who the president is, and in 2020, the people chose Joe Biden in the same way that the people chose Trump in 2016.

Here’s hoping that somehow, things can calm down or bad actors can be blocked from causing any more violence in D.C. and elsewhere in the U.S. in the week ahead and throughout Biden’s four-year term.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/01/12/us/impeachment-trump-25th-amendment

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/12/politics/donald-trump-riot-impeachment/index.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/11/twitter-has-suspended-70000-qanon-accounts-since-us-capitol-riot-.html

https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/company/2021/protecting--the-conversation-following-the-riots-in-washington--.html

https://heavy.com/news/ashli-babbitt-twitter-qanon/

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp-video/mmvo87107141992

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/07/politics/michael-flynn-qanon-video/index.html

https://www.businessinsider.com/sidney-powell-lawsuits-dismissed-michigan-georgia-arizona-wisconsin-2020-12

https://www.npr.org/2021/01/08/954836971/dominion-voting-sues-former-trump-lawyer-seeking-1-3-billion-in-damages

https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/11/tech/facebook-stop-the-steal/index.html

https://about.fb.com/news/2021/01/preparing-for-inauguration-day/

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/facebook-bans-all-stop-steal-content-n1253809