Newly elected Alabama Congressman Barry Moore has deleted his personal Twitter account following two controversial tweets that appeared to inject a racial element into Wednesday’s mob assault on the U.S. Capitol.
Attention was drawn to the Tweets on Sunday by journalist Jamie Dupree. In one, Moore commented that “we have more arrests for stealing a podium on Jan. 6th than we do for stealing an election on November 3rd” and went on to say that “Atlanta, Philadelphia, and Detroit would be places I recommend you start.”
In the other, Moore referred to the case of Ashli Babbitt, a military veteran shot by Capitol Police while she was among people trying to force their way into the House Chamber. “I understand it was a black police officer that shot the white female veteran,” tweeted Moore, A Republican from Enterprise. “You know that doesn’t fit the narrative.”
Moore’s account initially was suspended, and later deleted. On Sunday evening Moore’s chief of staff, Shana Teehan, said that after the account was suspended Moore deleted it “because of the censorship of conservative voices he saw happening.”
Moore still has an official account, @RepBarryMoore. As of Sunday night, that account made no mention of the other account. In recent days most Tweets from the official account have been biblical quotations; on Jan. 7 Moore posted a statement condemning Tuesday’s attack as “a disgrace to the principles we long have embraced,” expressing gratitude for the Capitol Police another law enforcement agencies and supporting an orderly transition of power on Jan. 20.
[Rep. Barry Moore deletes Twitter account after suspension, controversial Capitol riot tweets, by Lawrence Specker, Al.com, January 10, 2021]