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Some of Trump’s most ardent supporters also took to social media calling for a “civil war” and an “armed rebellion”, while in Ohio, a 42-year-old gunman died in a shootout after trying to get inside the FBI’s Cincinnati office.
Rioters stand outside the US Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021.Credit:AP
He, too, appeared to have called for agents to be killed and to “be ready for combat” in social media posts following the search of Trump’s home.
Speaking in the small city of Wilkes-Barre, in north-eastern Pennsylvania, Biden talked up his own law and order credentials, promising to help police hire and train 100,000 new officers and committing billions of dollars to clear court backlogs and for crime prevention.
US President Joe Biden kicked off a travel stretch intended to save the Democratic Party’s majorities in Congress with a speech on his crime-prevention initiative, the Safer America Plan.Credit:Bloomberg
He also renewed calls for a full ban on assault weapons after the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde earlier this year, telling the audience: “We’re living in a country awash with weapons of war… What the hell’s the matter with us?”
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The’s speech marked the first of three visits the president will make to Pennsylvania this week, as the campaigning for the midterms heats up. He will return on Thursday for a prime-time speech in Philadelphia that will focus on the threat to democracy and “the continued battle for the soul of the nation”.
Trump will also visit the state on Saturday to conduct his first rally since the search.
Pennsylvania is critical because it’s regarded as the Democrats’ best chance of flipping a seat in the Senate – the all-important chamber that determines everything from future Supreme Court nominations to Biden’s first term policy agenda.
In what is shaping up to be one of the marquee races of the midterms, progressive Democrat John Fetterman is battling for a spot in the Senate against Republican candidate Mehmet Oz, a celebrity TV doctor endorsed by Trump.
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Meanwhile, far-right state senator Doug Mastriano - one of the officials who tried to help Trump overturn the 2020 election results and was at the Capitol on January 6 – is now the Republican candidate to be Pennsylvania governor.
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