Insurrection at the United States Capitol

• EXPLORE: #StopTheSteal: Timeline of Social Media and Extremist Activities Leading to 1/6 Insurrection Just Security, February 10, 2021 
• Trump’s Election Lawsuits: Where the Fights Are Playing Out Bloomberg Law, November 7, 2020
  
• Trump’s ‘Post-Election Purge’: Head Of Election Cybersecurity, 11 Other Top Officials Out Forbes, November 18, 2020
• Trump lawyer: ex-election security chief Krebs should be ‘taken out and shot’ The Guardian, December 1, 2020
• WATCH: President Trump Statement on 2020 Election Results December 2, 2022
• ‘It’s surreal’: the US officials facing violent threats as Trump claims voter fraud The Guardian, December 10, 2020
• Trump begs Georgia secretary of state to overturn election results in remarkable hourlong phone call NBC News, January 3, 2021
• Trump pressures Pence to throw out election results — even though he can’t Politico, January 5, 2021
• By the numbers: President Donald Trump’s failed efforts to overturn the election USA Today, January 6, 2021
• EXPLORE: This is what Trump told supporters before many stormed Capitol Hill ABC News, January 7, 2021

• Trump-incited mob attacks Capitol, testing boundaries of speech and resilience of American democracy – January 2021
• Press targeted by pro-Trump insurrectionists during attack on US Capitol  – January 2021
• Florida anti-fascist activist sentenced to 44 months in prison for online threats against pro-Trump Capitol rioters – October 2021
• Fox News commentators resign to protest Tucker Carlson documentary on Jan 6 Capitol attack – November 2021
• NY man who urged Trump supporters to murder members of Congress sentenced to 19 months in prison – November 2021
• Celebrity judge walks out over Rudy Giuliani’s appearance on “The Masked Singer” – April 2022
• Former NYPD officer convicted of assaulting Washington, D.C., officer during Capitol riot – May 2022
• NFL Coach Jack Del Rio fined, leaves Twitter after minimizing Capitol riots, attacking George Floyd protests – June 2022
• Federal judge dismisses railroad conductor’s Free Speech lawsuit following offensive online behavior – August 2022

• Inside the Capitol Hill Riots VICE News, January 9, 2021
• The Attack The Washington Post
• A timeline of how the Jan. 6 attack unfolded — including who said what and when NPR, updated June 9, 2022
• Jan. 6: The Story So Far The New York Times
• Day of Rage: How Trump Supporters Took the U.S. Capitol | Visual Investigations The New York Times, July 1, 2021
• The deplatforming of President Trump TechCrunch, January 9, 2021

• Incident Database U.S. Press Freedom Tracker
• Covering Pro-Trump Mobs, the News Media Became a Target The New York Times, January 6, 2021
• Jan. 6 rioter pleads guilty to assault on news media The Washington Post, September 9, 2022
• Journalists describe in vivid detail how January 6 shredded the rule that reporters shouldn’t become the story Business Insider, October 28, 2021
• Reporters covering the Capitol attack were used to harassment and heckling. But Wednesday was different. Poynter, January 13, 2021
• Eight charged in connection with attacks on media during Jan. 6 riots U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, September 22, 2021

• Proud Boys’ Free-Speech Capitol Riot Defense Fails in Court Bloomberg News, December 28, 2021
• FAQs on Free Speech and the Capitol Hill Insurrection PEN America, January 11, 2021
• The Capitol Police Granted Permits For Jan. 6 Protests Despite Signs That Organizers Weren’t Who They Said They Were BuzzFeed News, September 9, 2021
• Capitol Rioters Planned for Weeks in Plain Sight. The Police Weren’t Ready. ProPublica, January 7, 2021

• EXPLORE: What Parler Saw During the Attack on the Capitol ProPublica, January 17, 2021
• ‘THIS IS ME’: Rioters flaunt involvement in Capitol siege AP News, January 26, 2021
• Capitol rioters’ social media posts influencing sentencings AP News, December 11, 2021
• Inside Facebook, Jan. 6 violence fueled anger, regret over missed warning signs The Washington Post, October 22, 2021
  
• Kicking people off social media isn’t about free speech Vox, January 21, 2021
• Trump’s ‘big lie’ fueled a new generation of social media influencers The Washington Post, September 20, 2022

• Pelosi Will Move to Create a Select Panel to Investigate the Capitol Riot The New York Times, June 24. 2021
• Hutchinson’s bombshell Jan. 6 testimony sways legal experts and conservative media NPR, June 29, 2022
• Jan. 6 committee zeroes in on Kevin McCarthy attempts to reach Trump during attack The Hill, July 21, 2022
• WATCH: January 6 hearing video highlights: Trump’s inaction CNN, July 22, 2022

• Do Americans Support Removing Trump From Office? FiveThirtyEight, January 20, 2021
• Over 200 lawmakers are calling for President Trump’s removal. Here’s who they are NBC News, January 7, 2021
• ‘I Want Him Out’: Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski Of Alaska Calls For Trump To Resign NPR, January 8, 2021
• ‘I’ve Had It With This Guy’: G.O.P. Leaders Privately Blasted Trump After Jan. 6 The New York Times, April 21, 2022
• The Post says: Give it up, Mr. President — for your sake and the nation’s New York Post, December 27, 2020
• Turley: Swift new impeachment would damage the Constitution The Hill, January 9, 2021
• Ainsley Earhardt Says Conservatives ‘Feel’ Election Was Rigged After Co-Hosts Repeatedly Point Out There is No Evidence Mediaite, January 4, 2021
• US election 2020: The people who still believe Trump won BBC News, January 5, 2021
• Voters who think Trump won are the most enthusiastic to vote in 2022 CNN, December 10, 2021
• 60 Percent Of Americans Will Have An Election Denier On The Ballot This Fall FiveThirtyEight, September 21, 2022

• Lafayette Square, Capitol rallies met starkly different policing response The Washington Post, January 14, 2021
• A look back at Americans’ reactions to the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Pew Research Center, January 4, 2022
• One year ago, Republicans condemned Jan. 6 insurrection. Yesterday, their response was far more muted. PBS NewsHour, January 7, 2022
• GOP censures Cheney, Kinzinger as it assails Jan. 6 probe The Associated Press, February 4, 2022
• What the GOP meant when it called Jan. 6 ‘legitimate political discourse’ Politico, February 15, 2022
• Users of Donald Trump’s Truth Social claim they were suspended after posting about Jan. 6 committee hearings Business Insider, June 12, 2022
• In Statehouses, Stolen-Election Myth Fuels a G.O.P. Drive to Rewrite Rules The New York Times, February 27, 2021

1. Should private social media companies have the ability to censor and “deplatform” public figures who use their accounts to communicate with the public? Do these companies have more grounds to censor if these figures actively disinform the public?
2. Should riot participants who did not break the law (enter the Capitol, use violence, trespass, etc.) be penalized or ostracized by their employers, communities, etc.? Why or why not?
3. Was the government responsible for inciting the insurrection? Why or why not? 
4. Do you think the Capitol rioters were aware that they were effectively attempting to suppress their fellow Americans’ right to vote? 
5. Why did the mob harbor such animosity towards the media, threatening and hurting journalists? To what extent did this mistrust of the media precipitate both the riot and Trump’s denial of the 2020 election results? 
6. To what extent should media companies, social media platforms, and online communications services be held legally responsible for the speech posted/disseminated on their platforms? Should they limit the spread of far-right speech? Anti-governmental speech? Speech directly threatening violence? Anything else?
7. To what extent are Free Speech and the stability of governmental/political institutions dependent upon one another? How are they harmful and/or beneficial to one another?

• The Jan. 6 attack: The cases behind the biggest criminal investigation in U.S. history, NPR
• A Guide to the Possible Forthcoming Indictments of Donald Trump, The Atlantic, January 23, 2023
• Trump wants to ditch his deal to post first on Truth Social and return to Twitter, report says, Insider, January 23, 2023
• Midterm results show voters reject election denialism, NPR, November 23, 2022
• Meta to Reinstate Trump’s Facebook and Instagram Accounts, The New York Times, January 25, 2023
• ‘History will hold Donald Trump accountable’ for Jan. 6, Pence says, Reuters, March 12, 2023

Click on these themes below: National Security + Protest Politics  + Legal Action

Discuss: What does this confluence of stories with these filters tell us about free speech issues surrounding electoral rights and democracy? Free speech and the ability to protest?