A claim suggesting that US President Joe Biden was arrested, and the military met in secret to make Donald Trump president is found to be a hoax. The claim was generated during a Facebook Live Video on July 26.
Despite Biden winning the Presidential elections and being in the Oval office for nearly eight months now, the conspiracy theories revolving around Trump getting reinstated doesn't seem to stop.
'Biden's Arrest Meeting Was Chaired by Todd Semonite'
According to the USA Today, the claim originated in a FB Live video which generated over 59,000 views. The video, posted by the FB page Breaking New 247, was captioned "MILITARY CALLED AN EMERGENCY MEETING FOR MAKING TRUMP AS A PRESIDENT | BIDEN ARRESTED."
To make the hoax claim appear authentic, the video shows a photo of Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite, former Army Corps of Engineers commander. The picture dates back to April 2020 and was clicked during a meeting on building emergency coronavirus hospitals. The picture also carried the graphic of a rhinoceros who is seen running opposite an unidentified man in a suit, the outlet reported. The voiceover in the video fails to provide any evidence regarding Biden's arrest.
Debunking the claim, the USA Today reported that the claims in the video were based on baseless QAnon conspiracy theories suggesting about the reinstatement of the former US President.
Biden has been making regular public appearances. On the day the video was published, Biden met Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi in the Oval Office and later attended an event to mark the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The US President also addressed the intelligence community at the Office of the Director for National Intelligence on July 27, thus proving that he wasn't arrested.
Will Trump be Reinstated as US President?
The talk about Trump's reinstatement in August started during a QAnon sponsored event organized in Dallas in June. The three-day conference, named "For God & Country: Patriot Roundup," saw Trump's key allies including Michael Flynn, Trump's former national security advisor Sidney Powell, Trump's former lawyer, Republican Rep. Louie Gohmert of Texas, and Allen West, the chairman of the Texas Republican Party.
Addressing the conference Powell had said that Biden should be removed from office and Trump should be "reinstated." Claiming that Trump could still be inaugurated but wouldn't get "credit for time lost," Powell said, "He can simply be reinstated."
"A new inauguration date is set, and Biden is told to move out of the White House, and President Trump should be moved back in," he continued. "I'm sure there's not going to be credit for time lost, unfortunately, because the Constitution itself sets the date for inauguration, but he should definitely get the remainder of his term and make the best of it," said Powell who is known to have filed multiple unsuccessful lawsuits attempting to overturn the 2020 election result.
As previously reported, under the current Constitution a sitting president can be removed ahead of the expiration of their term only through resignation, impeachment and conviction, or the provisions for presidential disability in the 25th Amendment.
