On Thursday, Twitter permanently banned the Project Veritas group founded by undercover journalist James O’Keefe for allegedly sharing “private information” without consent.
In a video, O’Keefe said that Twitter highlighted a video from Project Veritas that showed the Facebook Vice President of Integrity Guy Rosen being questioned outside his home.
Project Veritas suspended from Twitter. pic.twitter.com/UPVpuHfH5t
— Josh Caplan (@joshdcaplan) February 11, 2021
RELATED: America’s Spy-Busters Put Secret-Stealing Chinese ‘Grad Students’ Under The Microscope
According to Twitter, this violated their posting rules.
“The tweet in question arose when asking for comment from Facebook’s VP of Integrity about censorship,” Project Veritas noted on their Telegram channel.
“Project Veritas is appealing this decision, as no privacy was violated,” the group added.
“CNN Business reported Thursday, “Twitter also confirmed that O’Keefe’s personal account had been locked temporarily for violating the same policy, and that O’Keefe would be required to remove the violative content before regaining permission to tweet.”
O’Keefe told CNN Business in an email, that ‘it was ‘false’ that the video contained private information and claimed Twitter told the group it could have its account reinstated if it deleted the tweet containing the video.”
TWITTER SUSPENSION UPDATE pic.twitter.com/phGHqNkhVd
— Project Veritas Action (@PVeritas_Action) February 11, 2021
After CNN Business contacted Twitter about O’Keefe’s claim that he was told the account might be reinstated, Twitter said said they had “mistakenly communicated to Project Veritas that there would be a way to restore its account and confirmed that the group’s suspension was permanent and final.”
O’Keefe argued in a video posted from Project Veritas Action that the group’s post was in-line with mainstream journalistic standards.
O’Keefe also said he has not deleted the controversial tweet and has appealed the ban.
Twitter suspended James O'Keefe and Project Veritas after they released a video from a whistleblower inside Facebookhttps://t.co/m4wUkVY3CP
— Jack Posobiec
(@JackPosobiec) February 11, 2021
The Post Millennial reported on the video released by Project Veritas that was flagged by Twitter that Rosen said the social media platform “‘freezes’ comment sections on posts where they suspect, but have not necessarily have confirmed, that ‘hate speech’ is taking place.”
“We have a system that is able to freeze commenting on threads in cases where our systems are detecting that there may be a thread that has hate speech or violence,” Rosen said. “These are all things we’ve built over the past three-four years as part of our investments into the integrity space, our efforts to protect the election.”
Twitter cracking down on conservatives on their platform seem to have accelerated about the Big Tech company banned former President Donald Trump after the Capitol Hill attack.
The post Twitter Puts A Permanent Ban On James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas appeared first on The Political Insider.
In two days of presentations, the House impeachment managers laid out a case that seems more than ironclad; it seems to demand action. Starting with a chilling video of events on Jan. 6, they’ve walked the case both backward and forward to demonstrate every aspect of Donald Trump’s guilt. They’ve shown how Donald Trump groomed his supporters not to accept any outcome but a Trump victory from months before the election was held. How Trump immediately began insisting that the election was being “stolen” even as the votes were still being counted. Then how Trump exhausted every legal action, attempted to strong arm state and local officials, and attempted to leverage Mike Pence into taking unconstitutional action. Finally, deprived of everything else, Trump used the army of rabid supporters who he had inflamed with “stop the steal” and directed them at the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Perhaps the most chilling and effective portion of the whole presentation dealt with what Trump did after the assault was underway. Far from attempting to stop the attack or provide help to either Congress or the police, Trump acted to increase the peril. In particular, Trump used knowledge of Pence’s movement to inflame the crowd further, and repeatedly signaled his support for their actions.
On Friday, Trump’s legal team will present their case. Early indications are that it will be brief. Because, despite everything else that’s been revealed about Trump’s actions leading up to Jan. 6, many Republicans are once again prepared to give him a pass.
Imagine going to a trial in which the defendant is charged with multiple, monstrous crimes. Then, as the prosecutors are laying out the facts of the case—including the most compelling evidence that reveals details previously unknown to the public—looking over to see that half the jury isn’t even paying attention. One is doodling on a notepad. Another is playing a silly game designed for children. Others are snickering to each other and passing notes.
As it turns out, no imagination is required. Because that’s exactly how Republicans have treated this trial. As House managers showed how the police lines were being forced, Josh Hawley moved back into the viewing gallery to play. As they described the incredibly close call between Pence and rioters seeking to murder him, Rand Paul was doodling his next hair style. As House managers showed how Trump had constantly not just overlooked violence by his supporters, but encouraged it, Lindsey Graham, who was a House impeachment manager for the impeachment of Bill Clinton, was chortling over his chance to show disdain for the current trial.
Despite the way that Republicans have reacted, it’s clear that the House team laid out a compelling case immediately understandable not just in the Senate, but to the public.
But going into Friday, Trump’s legal team let it be known that their presentation may be as brief as three hours. Some of that time will likely be devoted to rehashing their nonsensical arguments about how the First Amendment protects calling for violence. Or pretending that Trump acted to do something, anything, to end the insurgency. But most of the reply from Bruce Castor and David Schoen is likely to be a funhouse mirror version of the House case.
It can be expected that they will show video of Democratic candidates urging their supporters to “fight” or “never give up.” It can be expected they’ll intersperse unconnected clips of violence from protests in Seattle or Portland or, based on other recent Republican ads, from any number of foreign countries. And because this presentation is going to be 100% aimed at giving Republican senators talking points on Fox News, it's an easy bet it will play heavily into existing memes around women of color. Expect to see Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Ilhan Omar, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, all saying things that Trump’s team will indicate are somehow “worse” than anything Trump said.
Expect to see random images of violence taken out of context, with Black Lives Matter marches put next to images of burning stores. Or black-suited figures identified as “antifa.” Expect to see a video, and a presentation, that leans heavily into the racist message that Fox News has already been selling for at least as long as Trump had been grooming his supporters—that BLM marchers are destructive and violent, and that Democratic officials have encouraged them in that violence. Expect to hear a claim that Vice President Kamala Harris asking for support in bailing out protesters was just putting violent extremists back on the street to commit more crimes.
Or … maybe not. Maybe they won’t do anything at all. After all, the real test this week wasn’t one of Trump’s guilt. That was clear even before the trial began, and every moment of the presentation only made the certainty and the extent of Trump’s crimes more obvious.
The real test was whether Republicans in Congress would step away from Trump and move toward doing what the nation needs to move forward. On that point, the evidence suggests that Trump’s team could use their three hours to recite recipes, or promote the next season of Hannity, or simply provide the details for the next assault on the Capitol.
House managers did a fantastic job. They left it all on the floor. No one watching could have any question about Donald Trump’s guilt. Republicans don’t have any question about Trump’s guilt.
As the Senate impeachment trial against Donald Trump continues, “The View” cohost Joy Behar is accusing him of “negligent homicide” over last month’s riots at the Capitol.
During Thursday’s episode of “The View,” the hosts discussed the new footage that has come out showing the Capitol riots. Unsurprisingly, Behar took the opportunity to blame everything on Trump, just as she did for the entirety of his presidency.
“One of the arguments they’re giving on the Trump side of it is that he can’t be held responsible just for the basis of inflammatory speech,” Behar said. “The original permit of the event on the ellipse was not to authorize a march on the Capitol. It was not authorized.”
Related: Joy Behar Says GOP Senators Wouldn’t Vote To Impeach Trump ‘Even If He Threw Them Off A Roof’
“According to what we heard yesterday, it wasn’t until Trump and his team directly involved in the event’s planning that the march came into the picture,” she added.
“They signed the permit to allow the mob to go on the Capitol, okay? That is not a free speech issue. That is action. That is actionable. He signed the permit that said ‘go ahead,'” she said.
After accusing Trump of giving his supporters a “signal to go after Pence,” she concluded her rant by saying that Trump didn’t share his video address to the mob until hours after the riot took place.
“Now, to me, that is negligent homicide,” she said outrageously. “A cop was killed. Many were injured. Between the Pence act and the mob of the period of time between the assault on the Capitol and when Trump decides to talk and tell them calm down, that is negligent homicide.”
Behar then shared a quote from the George Orwell book “1984,” which goes, “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears it was their final most essential command.”
HOUSE MANAGERS PRESENT NEW RIOT VIDEO: The co-hosts react to day two of former Pres. Trump’s second impeachment trial, including the new video shown revealing the seriousness of the threat to former Vice. Pres. Pence and others in the Capitol. https://t.co/rN7UqxbxJR pic.twitter.com/vNqPUKhMkd
— The View (@TheView) February 11, 2021
These kinds of extreme attacks on Trump are nothing new for Behar. Last month, she bizarrely claimed that Trump “made it his business for four years to rape this country.”
Full Story: Joy Behar Comes Unglued – Says Trump ‘Made It His Business For Four Years To Rape This Country’
This piece was written by James Samson on February 12, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.
Read more at LifeZette:
Jim Jordan Claims Democrats Are ‘Scared’ Of Trump
Lindsey Graham Predicts ‘Not Guilty’ Impeachment Votes Are Growing After ‘Absurd’ Arguments From Democrats
Gowdy Takes On House Impeachment Managers, Trump Livid
The post Joy Behar Accuses Trump Of ‘Negligent Homicide’ For Capitol Riot appeared first on The Political Insider.
Donald Trump made his supporters angry, called them to Washington, D.C., on the day Mike Pence was presiding as Congress certified Trump’s election loss, whipped them up into a vicious mob, and sent them to the U.S. Capitol, enraged at Congress and at Pence. We’ve known that.
This week, thanks to the House impeachment managers, we’ve learned just how close the mob came to Pence—and thanks to Sen. Mike Lee’s bumbling outrage, we’ve learned that Trump knowingly targeted Pence with another tweet immediately after he was moved for his safety. The mob responded to Trump’s effort to aim it at Pence, with his tweet saying “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution” being read through a bullhorn by one of the insurrectionists.
Pence wasn’t rushed to safety alone, though. He was with his family, his security detail … and a military officer carrying the vice president's backup nuclear football. CNN reports that, according to an unnamed defense official, U.S. Strategic Command learned how close the football came to the mob when the impeachment managers played that new video showing Pence’s group rushing down a flight of stairs to a more secure location within the Capitol.
To be clear, the vice president’s nuclear football is a backup, and Trump’s football was secure at the White House, and the officer carrying Pence’s football never lost control of it, and there are a ton of safeguards built in to prevent an accidental nuclear strike. In the actual-nuclear-strike department, having it close to but not in the hands of the mob was not necessarily more dangerous than having it in the hands of Donald Trump for four years.
That said, there were other dangers, the Arms Control Association’s Kingston Reif told CNN: “The risk associated with the insurrectionists getting their hands on Pence's football wasn't that they could have initiated an unauthorized launch. But had they stolen the football and acquired its contents, which include pre-planned nuclear strike options, they could have shared the contents with the world.”
Trump’s malice was such that when he aimed that mob at Pence in his effort to overturn the election results and remain in the White House against the will of the voters, he not only tried to threaten the man who had obsequiously flattered him and done his bidding for four years, he threatened Pence’s family, his Secret Service detail, and both the nuclear football and the officer carrying it. Trump’s only thought was to try to stay in office or, failing that, radically undermine U.S. democracy and delegitimize the new president. He did not care who he put in danger to that end. It’s a lot for Republican senators to ignore. By doing so, they show us who they are.
Norman Eisen/USA Today:
Impeachment: The Senate is on trial along with Trump. Will 33 senators do the wrong thing?
In Trump's 2019 impeachment trial, Romney was the only Republican who voted to convict. Already, six times that many have broken with the ex-president.
As a trial lawyer who served as co-counsel for the first impeachment of then-President Trump, I had been expecting surprises and there were many. The House managers enlivened what was supposed to be a constitutional debate Tuesday by previewing their main argument: that Trump knowingly incited the insurrectionists. It's amazing that Trump's lawyers were caught off guard by this. We did the same thing in the 2019 impeachment trial, using the opening debate over whether to call witnesses to preview the entire case. Nevertheless, Trump's counsel were thrown into confusion — they both showed it and one admitted that they'll "have to do better."
Max Burns/NBC Think:
Trump impeachment trial video means GOP can't pretend the former president is innocent
Republicans are criticizing Democrats for playing politics with a trial they know will end in acquittal. But the proceedings' importance goes beyond the outcome.nd, of course, even if the outcome is the acquittal of Trump, it’s important to show Americans — particularly Republican voters — what their GOP leaders are willing to turn a blind eye to. The evidence presented by the Democratic House impeachment managers damns congressional Republicans for making terms with the existential threat of right-wing extremism instead of leaving the party in protest. And regardless of how lawmakers vote, Wednesday’s honest accounting will play a critical role in helping our nation assess the sweeping damage Trumpism has inflicted on our institutions.
Sarah Longwell/Bulwark:
Hold Them All Accountable
The people who stormed the Capitol are facing the music. It’s up to us to make sure that the people who incited them do, too.Finding 17 Republican senators to convict Trump is a Herculean task, not least because many of them joined him in feeding the lie that brought these people to the Capitol in the first place. In that regard, this trial is unique for having members of the jury who are not just not impartial, but are both witnesses and accomplices to the crime.
Remember: Prior to the attack, more than a quarter of Senate Republicans had publicly announced plans to object to certifying the election results. Many of them are now trying to retcon these objections as “just asking questions” and not an attempt to overturn the election itself. But their calls for investigations into voter fraud and irregularities—despite dozens of court losses and then-Attorney General Bill Barr’s assurances that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud—were nothing less than hype-man interjections meant to bolster Trump’s claims that he “won in a landslide” and that the election was being stolen.
Tim Miller/Bulwark:
Not My Party: Guilty, Guilty
But this was different: Never before in this country has a sitting president tried to steal an election to stay in power. Yes, it didn’t work. Yes, the way he went about it was clownish and ridiculous. But Officer Brian Sicknick is dead because of Trump’s actions. Others are gravely injured. The vice president and Democratic members of Congress nearly suffered the same fate.
This all happened because Trump supporters took him seriously and literally.
At 6:01 PM, hours after the carnage, Trump tweeted this: “These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace.”
No! You made this happen, Donald. You did this! And it could have been worse.
Josh Marshall/TPM:
The Unbearable Weakness of Kevin McCarthy
To make sense of all this we need to go back a decade to 2011 when John Boehner became House Speaker. Boehner found the job notoriously difficult and eventually resigned in a mix of disgust and relief. But the reality of the situation is important to understand. The 2011-17 House majority was run not by its nominal leaders but by the Freedom Caucus, a sort of proto-Trumpite group, and to a lesser degree by the Republican Study Committee, a sort of earlier version of the Freedom Caucus which is now basically just the mainstream congressional GOP. It served that proto-Trumpite core of representatives purposes to have the nominal leadership in the hands of a ‘mainstream’ Republican like John Boehner – both for the sake of appearances and to be free of accountability.
Boehner had all the responsibility and none of the power and the Freedom Caucus folks had all the power and none of the responsibility – a very nice deal for the guys in the Freedom Caucus! This was made possible by the fact that the proto-Trump core of the House caucus had little in the way of a positive legislative agenda. They mostly wanted to stop things from happening – a revealing parallel with President Trump himself when he came to the White House. The relationship between three or four dozen proto-Trump representatives and Boehner parallels the larger reality we’ve discussed in other contexts: that the GOP is basically a rightist, revanchist party like France’s National Front or Germany’s Alternative for Germany masquerading as a center-right party of government like the Tories in the UK or the Christian Democrats in Germany. For that reason having a Boehner type with nominal authority was a good deal. And the Freedom Caucus had a veto over everything anyway. So no downside.
Eli Stokols/LA Times:
‘Not a pundit,’ Biden ignores impeachment trial to focus on his priorities
“Joe Biden is the president. He’s not a pundit,” Jen Psaki told the 14 reporters seated before her. “He’s not going to opine on the back-and-forth arguments in the Senate, nor is he watching them.”
Biden echoed that assertion moments later as he sat in the Oval Office to discuss his top priority, a $1.9-trillion coronavirus relief package, with a group of business leaders. A day later when Psaki appeared in the briefing room, reporters pressed her about Biden’s refusal to comment on the “historic” events occurring in the Senate. One, seemingly incredulous, asked just how the public “should interpret his silence?”
“The American public,” Psaki said, “should read it as his commitment on delivering on exactly what they elected him to do, which is not to be a commentator on the daily developments of an impeachment trial.”
Will Bunch/Philly.com:
ICE ‘Deep State’ is blocking Biden’s quest for justice for refugees
So far, Biden is finding that abruptly reversing U.S. immigration policy is like turning around a battleship using the tiny, loose steering wheel of the USS Minnow. His highest-profile immigration move — an executive order pausing deportations for 100 days — has been blocked by a federal judge in Texas whom Trump had appointed just last year. In this vacuum of uncertainty, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE — still under an interim boss hastily installed in the last week of the Trump administration — and the Border Patrol, whose rank-and-file officers zealously supported POTUS 45, have seemingly sped up deportations and other enforcement actions.
Republicans face party punishment back home for questioning Trump's role in Capitol attack
The big picture: State and county Republican apparatuses throughout the country are punishing those in their own party who want to hold the former president accountable, signaling that Trump's grasp on the GOP remains unfaded.
Sen. Bill Cassidy is the latest member to receive condemnation after the Louisiana senator sided with Democrats on a vote over the constitutionality to impeach a former president.