President Donald Trump on Tuesday addressed the social media censorship and his Twitter accounts being deleted following the breach at the U.S. Capitol last week.
“People thought that what I said was totally appropriate,” Trump told reporters in response to the Big Tech backlash for his speech on Jan. 6 to protesters. “We want no violence ... absolutely no violence,” he said.
He made the remarks to reporters at the White House ahead of his departure to Alamo, Texas—the first public comments to reporters since he delivered a speech to protesters near the Capitol on Jan. 6.
The president also warned that the House Democratic-led impeachment inquiry is leading to “tremendous anger” across the United States, adding that it will trigger “tremendous danger to our country.”
“People thought that what I said was totally appropriate and if you look at what other people have said, politicians at a high level, about the riots in the summer, the horrible riots in Portland and Seattle and various other places, that was the real problem,” Trump remarked. He pointed to speeches and rhetoric by various political leaders across the country as fomenting more discord and incitement across the United States.
The president also argued that companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook will fail due to censorship.
Big Tech is “doing a horrible thing to our country. ... And I believe it’s going to be a catastrophic mistake for them,” Trump also remarked.
Following Trump’s speech, which was condemned by a number of politicians—with some claiming Trump incited violence and calling for his resignation or impeachment—Twitter deleted the president’s account. A large number of pro-Trump accounts were also deleted by Twitter and Facebook.
As users attempted to flee to Parler and other social media websites, Amazon Web Services suspended its service with Parler on Monday morning, triggering a lawsuit from the company hours later.
While in Alamo, Texas, Trump’s visit will mark the “completion of more than 400 miles of border wall—a promise made, promise kept—and his administration’s efforts to reform our broken immigration system," White House spokesman Judd Deere told Reuters.
Trump is expected to deliver remarks at the border site about his immigration efforts.
He is facing demands from Democrats in Congress and some Republicans to resign from office. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is seeking to impeach him and some lawmakers want Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the U.S. Constitution’s 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. They have also introduced articles of impeachment and will likely schedule a vote before Jan. 20.
The impeachment effort—if it reaches the Senate—will likely fail, according to a number of GOP senators and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.).
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