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‘The terror hotspots were Trump rallies’: Former Whit House official slammed after attacking Biden on Twitter
January 21, 2021
Stephen Miller, perhaps the most despised member of the Trump administration who is not the former president, apparently decided to test the waters of his personal Twitter account just hours after Joe Biden was sworn in to office as the 46th President.
It did not go well.
<p>"Today, <a class="css-4rbku5 css-18t94o4 css-901oao css-16my406 r-1n1174f r-1loqt21 r-poiln3 r-bcqeeo r-qvutc0" data-focusable="true" dir="ltr" href="https://twitter.com/POTUS" role="link">@POTUS</a> pledged to be a president for all Americans," he tweeted about President Joe Biden. "It's unclear how all Americans are served by opening travel from terror hot spots, proposing a giant amnesty, or halting the installation of security barriers along the Southwest border."</p><p>He was immediately "ratioed," Twitter slang for getting significantly more comments than retweets or likes.</p><p>Currently, his tweet has over 9000 comments, but just 1600 retweets and just 700 likes.</p><p>Miller, who has been characterized as a white nationalist and a white supremacist, is responsible for some of President Trump's worst policies. Among them, separating children from their parents at the border to intentionally terrorize them into telling others from Central America to not attempt to enter the U.S. </p><p>He was also the architect of Trump's Muslim ban.</p><p>Here are some of the responses.</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet">It turns out the terror hotspots were Trump rallies, so.<br/>— Asha Rangappa (@AshaRangappa_) <a href="https://twitter.com/AshaRangappa_/status/1352001544812593152?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">Your rock awaits. Slither back under it now.<br/>— Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) <a href="https://twitter.com/HelenKennedy/status/1352007311389298689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">Says the person who advocated for a "zero tolerance" immigration policy, leading to hundreds of families separated at the border. <br/><br/>To this date, children are without parents because of your and your boss's failures.<br/>— Aaron Parnas (@AaronParnas) <a href="https://twitter.com/AaronParnas/status/1352001957066629127?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">You're genuinely one of the worst people on the planet<br/>— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) <a href="https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/1351996388960333829?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">Is this not Gab? I think he was looking for Gab.<br/>— Tim Miller (@Timodc) <a href="https://twitter.com/Timodc/status/1352006707740766209?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">Looking forward to seeing you chained in a crate. <br/><br/>🇺🇸<br/>— Benjamin Dreyer (@BCDreyer) <a href="https://twitter.com/BCDreyer/status/1351994927564124163?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">don't you have a flight to Argentina to catch and an assumed name to get used to?<br/>— Kelsey D. Atherton (@AthertonKD) <a href="https://twitter.com/AthertonKD/status/1351996513128476673?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none">Hey, hopefully one day you will be held accountable for your crimes you white supremacist pos<br/>— SPIRAL CURSE DEMARCO (@Clarknova1) <a href="https://twitter.com/Clarknova1/status/1352000963243028482?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 20, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async="" charset="utf-8" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>
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They were among the almost 75 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump and refuse to recognize Joe Biden's presidential victory as legitimate.
AFP spoke to some Trump supporters about what they think Trump will do next and what they believe life will be like under the new Democratic administration.
<h1>'I believe they cheated'</h1><p>"When Trump was inaugurated, I was so happy," said Gia Maxson, a yoga teacher and devout Catholic from Hickory, North Carolina.</p><p>"I went to two Trump rallies. They were wonderful, uplifting, positive experiences," she added.</p><p>Maxson refuses to believe that Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol two weeks' ago, even though it was caught on countless cameras. </p><p>"That was all staged so they could shut them down. They tried everything in their power to get rid of him in the beginning. They finally figured out a way to assassinate him." </p><p>"I am fearful, angry, absolutely stunned this could happen in America," she said. </p><p>She usually watches inaugurations but decided not to tune in this year. </p><p>"I believe it is completely illegitimate, I believe they cheated. There is no way Biden got 80 million votes," says Maxson, referring to unfounded claims of voter fraud.</p><p>Maxson believes Trump won't go away. </p><p>"I hope a new party can be launched -- the Patriot Party. That would be the best case scenario, the end of the two-party system."</p><h1>Impeachment 'unconstitutional'</h1><p>Doug McLinko, a local Republican representative in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, worries that the Democratic Party might try to scrap the Electoral College system.</p><p>"Rural America will have no voice, only major metropolitan areas," he said. </p><p>"This country has never been as divided," added McLinko, saying he takes issues with some on the left referring to Trump supporters as neo-Nazis. </p><p>"You call somebody a Nazi -- I don't think there is a worse phrase and yet that's what they do and next they talk about healing the country," said McLinko.</p><p>"I think the impeachment is completely unconstitutional. They seem to forget that 75 million people voted for him," he added, also believing that Trumpism is here to stay.</p><p>"The national populism is more than Donald Trump and that is going nowhere."</p><h1>No confidence in Biden</h1><p>"I feel like Biden's going to undo everything that Trump's done," said Sharon McGettrick, a health insurance worker from Clearwater, Florida. </p><p>"I was hoping that we would still continue with this immigration situation, with the wall which now they're saying that they're not going to. </p><p>"We're not going to have those choices anymore, to have that freedom of speech. They're trying to take guns away too," she added.</p><p>McGettrick believes the Covid-19 pandemic was "orchestrated" by China to damage the United States financially.</p><p>"There is no middle class anymore. You're either rich or you're poor. I'm making $31,000 a year, which if you look at the statistics means I'm in poverty.</p><p>"Maybe I should not be so presumptuous and think that he's not going to do things for our country but I just don't have the confidence in him like I get with Trump," she concluded.</p><h1>Trump 'not going away'</h1><p>Tim Hearn, a small business owner from the Charlotte area of North Carolina, says politicians in Washington have "created an environment within Congress that has become more of a job and a lifestyle than a position of service to the country."</p><p>"Trump brought jobs back to America that were sent overseas by previous administration, whether they were Republican or Democrat. It wasn't just a red versus blue scenario. It was America versus the globalists," said Hearn.</p><p>He thinks energy costs are going to go up under Biden's administration, which will kill his business.</p><p>"If he wants to raise the minimum wage, it is going to hurt us as well," he added.</p><p>Hearn thinks Biden's government will do "everything they can" to "cancel" Trumpism. </p><p>"It's not going to go away. People are going to still have the movement inside of them," he added.</p><p>"If Trump doesn't run again, I think if there's a place for Don Jr to run. I think he's the only one that could take the torch and go with it."</p>
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Newly-elected GOP members deny giving 'reconnaissance tours before Capitol attack -- so who did?
January 21, 2021
Three newly-elected Republican House members have denied giving "reconnaissance" tours to rally participants on Jan. 5, the day before the terrorist insurrection against the Capitol.
The lawmakers — Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Madison Cawthorn of North Carolina and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia — all told Salon that they had not escorted anyone that day outside of the course of normal legislative business. All three have come under fire for their public embrace of the Jan. 6 rally and its cause — baselessly and aggressively challenging President Joe Biden's election victory over outgoing President Donald Trump.
<p>Boebert has faced <a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/01/11/qanon-congresswoman-who-live-tweeted-nancy-pelosis-location-to-rioters-now-facing-calls-for-arrest_partner/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the most scrutiny</a>, after tweeting "1776" on the morning of the attack and offering vocal support from the House floor for her "constituents" gathered at the rally. She was also <a href="https://twitter.com/SollenbergerRC/status/1351744007626493956" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">photographed</a> at the rally itself, posing for pictures while Kylie Kremer of Trump booster group Women for America First addressed the crowd. During the siege, the Colorado fringe conservative, who has expressed admiration for the QAnon conspiracy theory, tweeted that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had been relocated. It was later revealed that insurrectionists planned to kidnap and assassinate elected officials, and several appeared equipped to do so.</p><p>Asked whether she had given any tours on Jan. 5, Boebert told Salon, "I did not. No."</p><p>Speculation about the newly-elected far-right Republican members escalated after Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-N.J., made the explosive claim that she had seen a fellow member giving what she described as a "reconnaissance" tour the day before the deadly attack. Thirty of her Democratic colleagues later signed on to a <a href="https://sherrill.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-sherrill-leads-members-requesting-investigation-suspicious-activity-capitol" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">letter</a> notifying the acting House sergeant at arms that some of them had noticed "unusually large groups of people throughout the Capitol" on Jan. 5, which they say could only happen with the help of a member of Congress or staff. Some of the people in those groups, the letter says, appeared to be connected to the following day's Stop the Steal rally, and the writers add that attackers seemed to have "an unusually detailed knowledge" of the building's complicated layout. The group has requested visitor logs and security camera footage from Jan. 5, and, pointedly, want to know whether law enforcement has also tried to access visitor information.</p><p>On Friday, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., perhaps inadvertently accelerated suspicions of Boebert when he <a href="https://twitter.com/RepSeanMaloney/status/1349926359330648066" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">told</a> MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Wednesday that he'd spoken with a colleague who described a member "showing people around" ahead of the attack, then quickly added that he had concerns about his "new colleagues."</p><p>Wallace asked Maloney if he could confirm there were tours the day before the attack, and while Maloney said he could, he admitted he had no firsthand knowledge, but had spoken to another member "who saw it personally, and he described it with some alarm."</p><p>Maloney continued, "Some of our new colleagues, the same ones, of course, who believe in conspiracy theories and who want to carry guns into the House chamber, who today — today — have been <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/republicans-furious-metal-detectors/" target="_self">yelling at Capitol Police</a>, shoving them, [the people] who a week ago were risking their lives to save ours. This conduct is beyond the pale, and it extends to some of this interaction with the very people who attacked the Capitol." He added that "it's a sad reality that we find ourselves at a place where the enemy is within, and we cannot trust our own colleagues."</p><p>Maloney, who had not signed Sherrill's letter, did not name Boebert or any other member, but his remarks, in their full context, <a href="https://twitter.com/shannonrwatts/status/1349506561694003200" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">fueled rumors</a> that she was one of the "new colleagues" he was referring to. Along with her professed admiration for the QAnon conspiracy theory, Boebert has declared she will carry a gun on the House floor and has <a href="https://www.salon.com/2021/01/13/rep-lauren-boebert-leads-gop-standoff-with-capitol-police-over-metal-detectors-on-house-floor/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">fiercely resisted</a> the Capitol's new metal detector policies.</p><p>Maloney has not named the lawmaker in question, but said "that's going to be a real story," adding that this activity went beyond traditional congressional oversight into "criminal behavior under federal sedition laws."</p><p>Boebert's communications director, Ben Goldey, stepped down in the wake of Jan. 6, reportedly writing his <a href="https://www.axios.com/boebert-communications-director-quits-f99c415e-dcf9-4507-a8d9-31c87280e39a.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">resignation letter</a> just <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/16/politics/lauren-boebert-communications-director-resigns-capitol-attack/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">hours after the attack</a>. He told Salon that he has been inundated with messages from people suspicious of his former boss, whom he had only served for a few days.</p><p>"Internet warriors have been sending me messages, acting as if I know something and telling me I need to go to the FBI — which of course I would do if there was something to say," Goldey told Salon.</p><p>Boebert responded angrily on Friday at what she <a href="https://twitter.com/RepBoebert/status/1349894919377346560" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">called</a> Maloney's "false and baseless conspiracy claims," which she said had implicated her personally and led to death threats and harassment. Maloney <a href="https://twitter.com/RepSeanMaloney/status/1349906702515269641" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">replied</a> that he had never said her name in public, and pointed to the interview transcript as proof.</p><p>Two other newly-elected members, Cawthorn and Greene, fit parts of Maloney's description of the lawmakers that caused him concern: Both advocate for carrying guns in the Capitol building (something a senior aide told Salon is more common than has been reported), and both have, to varying degrees, embraced conspiracy theories surrounding the 2020 election. Greene has publicly endorsed the ridiculous QAnon theories, which center on claims that Democratic leaders rape and cannibalize children.</p><p>Spokespeople for both Cawthorn and Greene denied allegations that they showed visitors around on Jan. 5. A spokesperson for Greene told Salon that she had worked in the Capitol building all day, and that any video from that day would show her accompanied only by staff in the halls.</p><p>Unlike Boebert and Greene, Cawthorn gave a speech at the Stop the Steal rally ahead of the ratification of Biden's victory, saying, "This crowd has some fight in it" and adding that "the Democrats, with all the fraud they have done in this election, the Republicans hiding and not fighting, they are trying to silence your voice. Make no mistake about it, they do not want you to be heard." Weeks earlier, the freshman member from former Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows' onetime North Carolina district, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_CkV3IDU3A" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">told</a> an audience it should "lightly threaten" lawmakers to support "election integrity," remarks that have led to calls for his resignation. Cawthorn also <a href="http://www.smokymountainnews.com/news/item/30582-cawthorn-mob-that-breached-capitol-disgusting-and-pathetic" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">carries a firearm</a> in the Capitol. A Cawthorn spokesperson, however, flatly denied any involvement in the alleged tours in a conversation with Salon.</p><p>Cawthorn himself has <a href="https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article248418675.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">denied</a> blame for the violence, telling Charlotte's <a href="https://spectrumlocalnews.com/nc/charlotte/politics/2021/01/12/nc-rep-cawthorn-stands-by-dc-rally-speech--loses-backing-of-key-supporter" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spectrum News1</a> on Monday that he was in fact "trying to stop it."</p><p>"I wouldn't say we were complicit in anyone storming the Capitol. Actually, I think we were, in many ways, trying to stop it. You know, I went and spoke at the rally outside of the White House. And I literally said, I'm about to go to the Capitol to fight this fight for all of you, you have a voice in me, I'm here to fight on your behalf," Cawthorn told the outlet.</p><p>It seems likely that Maloney did not mean to imply that one of those three lawmakers had given the tour in question. Multiple current and former congressional staff tell Salon that it's unlikely any of the three could have developed a deep understanding of the labyrinthine Capitol corridors in their first few days in office, knowledge that lawmakers and staff typically accumulate over years.</p><p>Asked Sunday about the feud with Boebert, Maloney <a href="https://www.rawstory.com/boebert/" target="_self">told</a> MSNBC's Jonathan Capehart that she had "jumped to a conclusion and didn't bother to look at what I said."</p><p>"She apologized, by the way, a short while later because we produced the transcript which demonstrated her comments, her tweet, her letter were farcically stupid and wrong," he continued. "So the problem is when you get this kind of incompetence mixed together with arrogance, when people believe that they're right when they are demonstrably wrong."</p><p>But on Monday, Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., reignited the suspicions, <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2021/01/18/politics/steve-cohen-lauren-boebert-capitol-tours/index.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">telling CNN's Jim Scuitto</a> that he and Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Ky., had seen Boebert with a group in the Capitol tunnels in the days leading up to the attack — although he could not specify the precise date, nor say whether those people were part of the siege.</p><p>"Congressman Yarmuth refreshed my recollection yesterday," Cohen said. "We saw Boebert taking a group of people for a tour sometime after the 3rd and before the 6th. ... Now, whether these people were people that were involved in the insurrection or not, I do not know."</p><p>In response, Boebert sent Cohen a <a href="https://boebert.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-boebert-refutes-rep-cohens-false-claims" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">letter</a> calling his comments "false" and "slanderous." While she acknowledged that she had shown family members around on Jan. 2 and 3 — the day she was sworn into office — she said the tours had stopped there.</p><p>"I haven't given a tour of the U.S. Capitol in the 117th Congress to anyone but family," she <a href="https://twitter.com/RepBoebert/status/1351295426234888192" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">tweeted</a>.</p><p>In a text message with Salon, Cohen said that he had not seen Boebert showing anyone around on Jan. 5, the day of the alleged "reconnaissance" tours. It is unclear why he did not rule out that day in his CNN interview on Monday.</p><p>None of this rules out the central allegation that the Jan. 6 insurrectionists had inside knowledge of the Capitol and possibly assistance. The public record suggests that is at least plausible. For instance, a number of Republican elected officials had heavily promoted the rally, most specifically Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona, who <a href="http://twitter.com/Onesecondname/status/1333378925179781121" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">coordinated</a> for weeks with key organizers. One of them cited Gosar and Rep. Mo Brooks of Alabama <a href="https://twitter.com/JayBarbuto/status/1348434708326019072" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">by name</a> as helping foment a "maximum pressure" campaign on Congress.</p><p>Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, chair of the House subcommittee that oversees funding for the Capitol Police, <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/12/mikie-sherrill-capitol-hill-attack-458655" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said</a> on Jan. 12 that "a couple" of his colleagues seemed to fit Sherrill's description, and that this information had been passed to authorities as soon as the night of the attack.</p><p>"You look back on certain things and you look at it differently," Ryan said.</p>
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