Trump tweets video after Twitter locked his account in wake of Capitol riot

President Donald Trump said Thursday in a video he’s focused on “ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power” after violence broke out a day earlier when his supporters stormed the US Capitol.

Trump’s remarks, which were shared on Twitter, came after the social media site locked his account for at least 12 hours following three tweets that violated the company’s rules against interfering in elections or other civic processes. In the tweets, Trump pushed false claims about election fraud, a bogus grievance the president repeated for weeks. The riot temporarily halted the congressional process of certifying Joe Biden as the next US president. Other social networks such as Facebook locked his account indefinitely.

In the video, Trump said he still believed the US should reform its election laws to verify the identity and validity of voters. He also criticized people who stormed the US Capitol on Wednesday.

“The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy,” he said in the video. “To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country.”

Thursday’s taped statement came a day after Trump released another taped statement in a tweet — one of the three deleted — that told the rioters to go home, calling them “special people,” adding, “We love you,” while continuing to circulate false claims of voter fraud, as he has done for months. 

Twitter’s move to lock Trump’s account came after University of Virginia law professor Danielle Citron, journalist Kara Swisher, Obama Foundation CTO Leslie Miley, Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and other high-profile figures urged the short-message app to boot the president from the platform.

In the past, Twitter has placed a public interest notice over Trump’s tweets for glorifying violence,  a label that limits the spread of the tweet. Trump has more than 88 million followers on Twitter, allowing him to reach a massive audience online. 

“Our public interest policy — which has guided our enforcement action in this area for years — ends where we believe the risk of harm is higher and/or more severe,” Twitter said.