Kelley Paul took on Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey amid the platform’s recent conservative purge, saying that the tech giant failed to take action against the “thousands of hateful tweets” directed at her husband, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.
“Hey @jack, remember how for the last three years you have allowed thousands of hateful tweets celebrating my husband’s assault and encouraging more violence against him? I do,” Mrs. Paul tweeted on Sunday.
Her message came after Twitter banned President Trump on Friday following the U.S. Capitol rioting by a pro-Trump mob, saying that he had violated its “Glorification of Violence policy” with two recent tweets.
Prominent Republicans, including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, have since seen a large reduction in their followers.
Mrs. Paul’s father-in-law, libertarian leader and former Republican Rep. Ron Paul, was blocked from Facebook on Monday. He said he received no warning but was told by the social-media behemoth that his account was blocked for “repeatedly going against our community standards.”
Hey @jack , remember how for the last three years you have allowed thousands of hateful tweets celebrating my husband’s assault and encouraging more violence against him? I do.
— Kelley Paul (@KelleyAshbyPaul) January 10, 2021
Mrs. Paul’s husband was attacked in 2017 by a neighbor in Kentucky, suffering six cracked ribs and later requiring surgery to have part of his lung removed. Rand Paul is a Republican, as was his father when he served in the House.
At least one of the tweets cheering the assault made headlines: Rodney Robinson, named the 2019 National Teacher of the Year, said on Dec. 30 that “Rand Paul’s neighbor did what a true Kentucky hero should do,” and telling Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell’s neighbors that, “It’s your turn to step up.”
Mr. Robinson still has an account on Twitter, which is now protected, meaning that only “approved followers” can see his tweets.
The Washington Times has reached out to Twitter for comment.
Twitter announced Monday that it has suspended more than 70,000 accounts that were “sharing harmful QAnon-associated content at scale and were primarily dedicated to the propagation of this conspiracy theory across the service.”
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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