Twitter bans Trump, AOC & Cruz spar, escalation, Josh Hawley, Parler under fire, Impeachment, Biden

#Twitter #Suspension #Trump #Division #Biden #Pelosi #Hawley #230 #Parler #Escalation #Impeachment

Lindsey Graham has begged Joe Biden to call off a second impeachment, insisting that Donald Trump should be given credit for having made a 'helpful' statement, and pleading with Biden that impeachment 'will destroy the country even further.'

The South Carolina senator appeared on Sean Hannity's Fox News show on Friday night, hours after the articles of impeachment were unveiled.

House Democrats are planning to impeach Trump with a single impeachment article charging him with 'incitement of insurrection'.

The move is on a hyper-fast track after Wednesday's Capitol riot – with the article set to be introduced Monday.

A draft of the article prepared by Reps. David Cicilline, Ted Lieu, and Jamie Raskin states that, 'Incited by Trump, a mob unlawfully breached the Capitol,' injured law enforcement, menaced lawmakers and the vice president, and interfered with the count of the Electoral College.

But Graham, looking shaken, urged Biden to call his colleagues and tell them not to proceed.

'I wanted President Trump to win so badly,' Graham admitted.

'Now, tonight, I am calling on President-elect Biden to pick up the phone and call Nancy Pelosi and the squad to end the second impeachment.

'President Trump gave a statement last night that was helpful. It hit the mark. He wants to move on to a peaceful transfer of power. He wants this to end.'

Graham, a regular golfing partner of the president's, said he had spent the day with the increasingly-isolated Trump, who since Wednesday has had two Cabinet members and a series of officials resign in disgust at his incitement of the rioters.

On Friday evening had his Twitter page deleted permanently, which will likely add to his fury.

'I've been with him most of the day; he's going to focus on his agenda and his successes for the American people, in the next few days,' said Graham, attempting to hold out an olive branch on behalf of Trump.

'Joe Biden said it's up to Congress regarding impeachment.

'No, President-elect Biden, it's up to you.

'Pick up the phone and call Nancy Pelosi, Chuck Schumer and the squad and tell them: stand down; this will destroy the country even further.

'You have the power to do that. The question is, do you have the courage to do it.'

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Rush Limbaugh has deactivated his Twitter account hours after Donald Trump, Sidney Powell and Mike Flynn were suspended and conservatives threatened to flee the platform in protest.

A search for the account of right-wing radio host Limbaugh Friday night comes up with the notice: 'This account doesn’t exist.'

Limbaugh has not commented on the removal however it comes amid a flurry of chatter from conservatives that they will stage an exodus from the platform in the wake of several bans of far-right commentators.

Earlier Friday, Twitter announced it had suspended the accounts of Donald Trump's former election fraud lawyer Powell, former National Security advisor Flynn, and the founder of 8Chan - now known as 8kun.

The social media platform said they had all broken its 'coordinated harmful activity' policy in their promotion of conspiracy theories.

Soon after, Twitter then announced the president had been banned permanently.

'After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence,' Twitter said of its ban on Trump.

The moves come as Twitter is becoming increasingly aggressive in policing its platform, forcing those in the line of fire to switch to Parler, which is not moderated.

Apple is reportedly now mulling removing Parler from the app store, owing to the inflammatory content circulating on the platform.

Meanwhile, YouTube removed Steve Bannon's podcast from YouTube Friday just hours after Rudy Giuliani appeared on the show blaming the MAGA mob riot that left five dead on the Democrats for 'censoring and suppressing' Donald Trump supporters.

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President elect Joe Biden on Friday called on the Senate to start the process to confirm his top Cabinet nominees immediately, saying there should be no vacancies during the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis.

Biden is in danger of not having a single Cabinet official confirmed on Inauguration Day. Traditionally the Senate - which is sworn into office a few weeks ahead of a president - starts the confirmation process so there is at least part of a national security team in place when the president takes office.

'We've done our job. We've begun the job of naming these people and it's my expectation and hope that the Senate will now move to confirm these nominees promptly and fairly. As is especially the case for the nominees of secretary of state, defense, treasury, and homeland security,' he said. 'They should be confirmed as close to January 20th as possible.'