Donald Trump’s Twitter Account Suspended After He Calls Capitol Hill Rioters ‘Special’ Amid Congress Invasion

Hours after massive riots erupted at the Capitol, Donald Trump went on a Twitter rant, leading to his account getting suspended for at least 12 hours.

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January 6, 2021 7:20PM EST
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Trump supporters gather outside the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. As Congress prepares to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory, thousands of people have gathered to show their support for President Donald Trump and his claims of election fraud. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
DC National Guard walk around the Capitol grounds, Thursday morning, Jan. 7, 2021 in Washington. The House and Senate certified the Democrat's electoral college win early Thursday after a violent throng of pro-Trump rioters spent hours Wednesday running rampant through the Capitol. A woman was fatally shot, windows were bashed and the mob forced shaken lawmakers and aides to flee the building, shielded by Capitol Police. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
UNITED STATES - January 7: The East Front of the U.S. Capitol is seen through a shattered door leading to the center steps in Washington on Thursday, Jan. 7, 2021, following the riot at the Capitol the day before. (Photo by Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)

UPDATE, 1/7/21, 8:20pm ET: Donald Trump has condemned his supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol building a day after the riot. After his Twitter account was released from its temporary suspension, Trump posted a video in which he stood before a podium and said, “I would like to begin by addressing the heinous attack on the united States Capitol. Like all Americans I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem. I immediately deployed the National Guard and federal law enforcement to secure the building and expel the intruders. America is and must always be a nation of law and order. The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy.” You can watch the full video, below.

UPDATE, 1/7/21, 8:40am ET: Congress has officially certified Biden and Harris as the President-elect and Vice President-elect, hours after Trump supporters rioted at the Capitol and forced them to evacuate the proceedings. Biden and Harris will officially be sworn into office on January 20, as planned. Vice President Pence, who President Trump erroneously insisted could reject the electoral votes counted by Congress, was the one to declare Biden and Harris’ victory.

Shortly thereafter, Trump, who told supporters multiple times that he would “never concede,” said in a statement tweeted by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino that he will support the transition of power. “Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”

UPDATE, 1/6/21, 7:20pm ET: Twitter “locked” Donald Trump’s Twitter account for at least 12 hours during the early evening hours of Wednesday, Jan. 6, following the removal of three of his tweets due to “repeated and severe violations of our Civic Integrity policy”, according to the social media platform. One of the tweets included his video response to the riots, in which he called the protesters “special” and doubled down on his claim that the election was “stolen” and the results are “fraudulent”.

UPDATE, 1/6/21, 5:50pm ET: The woman who was shot in the chest inside the Capitol building has died, MSNBC reported on air. No other details about the shooting have been provided. The full forces of the National Guard have now been deployed as riots at Congress continue.

UPDATE, 1/6/21, 5:16pm ET: Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) tweeted that she is drawing up articles of impeachment for Trump. “Donald J. Trump should be impeached by the House of Representatives & removed from office by the United States Senate. We can’t allow him to remain in office, it’s a matter of preserving our Republic and we need to fulfill our oath.”

UPDATE, 1/6/21, 4:28pm ET: President Trump posted a video to Twitter addressing the rioters, telling them to go home — and vehemently stating that the election was stolen from him. “I know you’re pained, I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it. Even the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order and respect our great people in law and order.

“We don’t want anyone hurt. It’s a very tough period of time,” he continued. “There’s never been a time like this where such a thing happened, where they could take it away from all of us — from me, from you, from our country. This was a fraudulent election. But we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home, we love you, you’re very special. You’ve seen what happens, you see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel. But go home, and go home in peace.”

President-elect Biden also addressed the riots in DC with a televised speech. “At this hour our democracy is under unprecedented assault unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times,” Biden said. “It’s an assault on the rule of law like few times we have ever seen it. The scenes of chaos at the capitol do not reflect a true America, do not represent who we are. I call on this mob to pull back and allow democracy to go forward. At their best the words of a president can inspire, at their worst they can incite.”

UPDATE, 1/6/21, 4:05pm ET: An explosive device was found at the headquarters of the Republican National Committee in DC, later identified as a pipe bomb and detonated by a bomb squad, according to an RNC official. A suspicious package was also found at the Democratic National Committee. The building was evacuated. Both the RNC and DNC headquarters are located just a few blocks away from the Capitol building.

UPDATE, 1/6/21, 3:47pm ET: Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted that the National Guard and “other federal protective services” have been deployed to the Capitol “at President Trump’s direction.” She stated: “We reiterate President Trump’s call against violence and to remain peaceful.”

UPDATE, 1/6/21, 3:28pm ET: A woman has reportedly been shot in the chest on Capitol grounds and is in critical condition, according to CNN. She was taken to the hospital by EMS at approximately 3:00pm ET. It is unknown if she is the same woman seen being wheeled out of the building in a stretcher, covered in blood. MSNBC reports that five other individuals have been taken to the hospital; it’s unclear why.

UPDATE, 1/6/21, 3:13pm ET: The doors to the House chamber are now locked and barricaded with about 100 people sheltering inside, according to NBC News. House members were told to get under their chairs and put on masks before they were eventually evacuated from the floor. However, members in the press gallery above the floor still remain locked inside.

ORIGINAL: As a joint session of Congress votes to certify Joe Biden officially as the winner of the 2020 presidential election, irate protestors outside the Capitol, convinced that votes were stolen from President Donald Trump, stormed the building. Senators and Congressmen inside the building (as well as Vice President Mike Pence) were forced to evacuate as hundreds of rioters slammed past Capitol police and security barricades, attempting to break into the Senate chambers. The Capitol’s campus is now locked down, and politicians are either evacuating or sheltering in place for fear of violence.

Footage of the riot, which started out as a somewhat peaceful protest, is terrifying. Hundreds of enraged Trump supporters, armed with campaign banners and Confederate flags, wearing those ubiquitous red MAGA caps, tussled with Capitol police as they pushed through barricades in droves. Police couldn’t hold them back, and they succeeded in busting inside. Protestors allegedly broke windows and knocked down doors, attempting to confront the joint session of Congress, according to The Blaze reporter Elijah Schaffer, who was on the scene.

The violent outburst began around 1:00pm ET, shortly after President Trump addressed the crowd himself. Trump vowed to never concede to Biden, who will be inaugurated on January 20, and claimed again that the 2020 election was rigged. His speech comes just days after he pressured the Georgia Secretary of State to “find more votes” for him. “Our country has had enough,” Trump said. “We won’t take it anymore.” Protestors succeeded in entering the chambers shortly afterward.

After the speech, protestors marched to the Capitol, shouting “Whose Capitol? Our Capitol,” according to NPR’s Hannah Allam. Some Trump supporters were seen erecting a giant wooden cross outside the capitol, which some on Twitter believe is the action of the Ku Klux Klan. As the violent protest continued, Trump took to Twitter to urge his supporters to stand down. “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”

It’s unclear if any of the protestors inside the Capitol are armed, but hours before the mob gathered, DC police had made 12 arrests connected to the rally. Charges included possession of a large capacity ammunition feeding device, possession of an unregistered ammunition, carrying a pistol without a license, carrying a rifle or a shotgun outside home or business, possession of a of a prohibited weapon, and more. Footage from the scene showed an unidentified woman, covered in blood, being wheeled out of the Capitol building.