Domi Good: Twitter Forces McConnell Campaign To Pull Video Showing Violent Threats Against Him

On Monday night, dozens of left-wing activists converged on the Louisville home of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to protest for gun control. Video of one of the protesters, Black Lives Matter activist Chanelle Helm, calling for violence against McConnell — initially posted on Facebook and then tweeted out by congressional staffer Ben Goldey — quickly went viral, retweeted by the McConnell re-election campaign and Daily Wire reporter Ryan Saavedra. By Tuesday, Twitter had locked all three accounts until they pulled their posts featuring the video.

In the since-pulled video, which was first live-streamed on Facebook, one of the protesters says about McConnell's recent shoulder injury that maybe someone is using a "voodoo doll" against the senator. Helm responds, "Just stab the motherf***er in the heart, please." She went on to say she hopes he suffers "one of those heart attacks where they can't breath, and they're holding their chest and they fall backwards." Instead of nursing a "broken arm" after his fall, she said, "he should have broken his raggedy, wrinkled-ass neck."

On Tuesday, Twitter told Goldey, the McConnell campaign, and Saavedra to remove their posts, saying the video violated the platform's policies on "violent threats" and temporarily blocked their accounts until they agreed to remove the tweets.

"My account was temporarily suspended after posting a video of far-left activists chanting death threats at Senator McConnell," Goldey tweeted after his account was reactivated.

McConnell's campaign likewise had their account, @Team_Mitch, locked. Campaign Manager Kevin Golden told The Daily Caller, "Twitter locked our account for posting the video of real-world, violent threats made against Mitch McConnell."

Though Twitter claimed they wanted the video pulled to protect McConnell, Golden noted to The Daily Caller that the platform allowed #MassacreMitch to trend over the weekend. The campaign initially pushed back against the company's demand, but after Twitter locked their account, they were forced to delete the post.

In a tweet thread Wednesday, Saavedra gave an account of what took place and highlighted the apparent double standard held by Twitter. "Twitter asked me yesterday to delete this tweet," he wrote, including an image of his initial tweet detailing Helm's comments. "It showed a person allegedly calling for violence against Mitch McConnell. The person appears to be a BLM activist who has met with Elizabeth Warren. I said no and they suspended me *and* McConnell's re-election campaign."

"They told me, in a private message, that they were going to remove the video contained in the tweet, which was embedded from someone else's account," he continued. "They also asked me to delete my tweet, which was separate. My tweet was newsworthy and factually accurate I said no. They said it was for McConnell's safety that they wanted the video removed. They could have removed the video and not my tweet. Keep in mind, Twitter allowed (#)MassacreMitch to trend on the platform for days and there are multiple tweets on this platform that list where he lives."

"I told Twitter that their logic did not make sense, that they wanted the tweet for McConnell's safety, because of many of the tweets they leave up and claim do not violate their rules," he added. He then provided some examples of egregious posts by the Left allowed to remain up. Below is the beginning of Saavedra's thread, followed by a few select posts: