Summary List PlacementAs pro-Trump rioters stormed the US Capitol building on Wednesday afternoon, President Trump tweeted a message criticizing Vice President Mike Pence.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify,” Trump tweeted. “USA demands the truth!”
Pence was at the US Capitol in Washington D.C., presiding over the certification of the 2020 US presidential election results, when the building was stormed and broken into by pro-Trump rioters. Pence had said he would not heed Trump’s calls to block president-elect Joe Biden’s electoral college victory.
Trump’s tweet was censored by Twitter — a frequent occurrence, especially in the wake of the presidential election.
But in this case, the tweet was censored due to a “risk of violence,” the label said, in addition to the language more frequently applied to Trump’s tweets which claim election fraud.
“This claim of election fraud is disputed,” the label said, “and this Tweet can’t be replied to, Retweeted, or liked due to a risk of violence.” Trump, without evidence, continues to dispute the results of the 2020 presidential election, which Biden won and Congress was expected to certify on Wednesday.
Notably, the siege at the US Capitol was already underway when Trump sent the tweet regarding Pence.
Reports from inside the US Capitol depicted pro-Trump rioters breaking through doorways into the building around 2:20 p.m. ET on Wednesday. Trump’s first message addressing the rioters didn’t go out until twenty minutes later.
A video message, published approximately an hour later to Trump’s Twitter account, instructed rioters to “go home now.” The video was also labeled “due to a risk of violence.”
Twitter announced plans to temporarily increase oversight on Wednesday afternoon.
“In regard to the ongoing situation in Washington, D.C., we are working proactively to protect the health of the public conversation occurring on the service,” the company said, “and will take action on any content that violates the Twitter Rules.”
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