Twitter worker says he tried to sound alarm on Trump tweets

Washington (AP) — A Twitter employee told the House committee investigating the riot at the U.S. Capitol that he spent a sleepless night on Jan. 5, 2021, worrying that people might die the next day during a rally that former President Donald Trump regularly promoted with angry rhetoric on his social media accounts.

The Twitter employee's worst fears were confirmed when nine people were left dead during and in the aftermath of the ensuing riot that broke out when Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6.

He raised repeated concerns with his employer about Trump’s tweets leading up to the rally, the Jan. 6 committee revealed during its latest public hearing Tuesday. The employee’s voice was altered and his name was withheld to protect his identity in a prerecorded interview. His testimony did not indicate whom he told of his concerns about Trump’s tweets.

After Trump tweeted a Dec. 19 invitation for his followers to gather in Washington to protest the U.S. election results, a torrent of responses, including violent threats, followed, the Twitter employee testified.

“It felt as if a mob was being organized and they were gathering together their weaponry and their logic and their reasoning behind why they were prepared to fight,” he said.

Responses to Trump’s tweets included references to being “locked and loaded” and calls for “civil war,” the employee noted.

Twitter said in an emailed statement that it took “unprecedented steps” to respond to threats during the 2020 election and suspended accounts linked to far-right extremist groups. The company said it has had “ongoing, productive engagement” with the House committee.

In the days leading up to Jan. 6, Trump regularly used Facebook and Twitter to encourage his followers to travel to the Capitol to...