Prosecutors honing in on Trump tweet rallying call
Prosecutors are honing in on a December 2020 Trump tweet that may have been a call to action for far-right extremists, The New York Times reports.
The tweet announced Trump’s January 6, 2021 rally outside the Capitol and urged supporters, “Be there, it will be wild!”
NYT said that the DOJ and Congress’ Jan. 6 panel are gathering more evidence of how the tweet was in part a catalyst for the riot.
Federal prosecutors are zeroing in on a December 2020 tweet from then-President Donald Trump that may have been a siren call for far-right actors to converge on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, The New York Times reported.
“Big protest in D.C. on January 6th,” Trump tweeted on December 19. It was the first time he announced the “Save America” rally, which took place at the Ellipse in Washington, DC, less than two miles from the US Capitol. “Be there, will be wild!” the tweet said.
Far-right and extremist groups immediately interpreted Trump’s message as a call to action for them to head to the Capitol and stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election that day, The Times said.
According to court filings and interview records compiled by the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot, multiple people associated with far-right groups like the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys started communicating with each other on messaging apps and gathering arms and protective gear.
