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Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene is warning that the Department of Justice's investigation into the Capitol riot is a "war on Trump" and all of his supporters.
Former President Donald Trump was indicted by the DOJ in August on four counts, including conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith's investigation into the 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol. Trump has maintained his innocence in the case and accused prosecutors of targeting him for political purposes.
On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., where Congress was certifying the results of the 2020 election. The riot followed unsubstantiated claims made by the former president that the election was stolen from him via widespread voter fraud.
More than 1,200 people have been charged in connection to the riot, including more than 400 accused of assaulting or impeding law enforcement, which is a felony.
Greene, a vocal Trump ally who has denied the legitimacy of the 2020 election and visited January 6 defendants in jail, claimed that the DOJ is out to get Trump and his supporters in a post on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday.
"It truly is a war on Trump, and also anyone who supports Trump," the Georgia Republican posted. "Republicans must recognize the extreme nature of the politically weaponized DOJ and do everything we can to stop it!"
Greene attached a screenshot from an electronic search warrant issued by United States Chief Judge Beryl Howell on January 17, 2023, with the intent of looking through information associated with Trump's now-defunct Twitter account.
The screenshot focused on a part of the search warrant that requested information from "all lists of Twitter users who have favorited or retweeted tweets" from Trump's account, "as well as all tweets that include the username associated with the account (i.e., 'mentions' or 'replies')."
Newsweek reached out to Greene and Trump's team via email for comment.
Trump's Twitter account, which had over 88 million followers, was permanently suspended two days after the Capitol riot "due to the risk of further incitement of violence." Twitter said that Trump's posts in the wake of the insurrection, including one in which he called his supporters "patriots" and one in which he said he would not attend the presidential inauguration on January 20, 2021, violated the company's rules against glorifying violence.
Some people on social media supported Greene's post and backed Trump.
X user Jay Pennview wrote: "Unacceptable! Something MUST be done."
Another X user, @RoiResell, wrote: "Trump has always been under attack, most of it unjustified."
Others pointed a finger at the former president.
"Trump is a criminal," X user Steven Johnson wrote.
"Trumps criminal actions brought this on. It starts and stops there," @Mike12108735 posted.
About the writer
Rachel Dobkin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on politics. Rachel joined Newsweek in ... Read more