As President Donald Trump's supporters were violently rioting inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Tiffany Trump wished her brother Eric Trump a happy 37th birthday on social media.
The timing of Tiffany's posts, both on Twitter and Instagram, was criticized by many as tone-deaf: The posts went up three hours after pro-Trump rioters, incited by Trump's false claims that the presidential election had been stolen from him, breached Capitol security in an unprecedented act of violent insurrection.
At the time, both the House and Senate were in session to certify President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the Electoral College.
Just after 1 p.m. local time, the mob of rioters pushed through barriers set up along the perimeter of the Capitol building. At 3:36 p.m., White House spokeswoman Kayleigh McEnany tweeted that the president had sent in the National Guard and the mayor of Washington, D.C., instituted a curfew. Tiffany tweeted her birthday message to Eric at 5:48 p.m.
"Happy Birthday @erictrump I love you and I'm so grateful to always have you by my side!" Tiffany wrote on Twitter and Instagram and shared several photos of her and brother Eric.
Among the many reactions from critics in the comments sections of Tiffany's posts was "read the room."
Hours before the riot on the Capitol, Trump made a speech in front of thousands of his supporters in an address that was filled with baseless claims of election fraud. What followed were scenes of violent riots and marches through the Capitol's halls and chambers along with Trump supporters waving banners and flags emblazoned with the president's name.
Rioters broke windows and were violent with local authorities as seen in numerous photos and videos of looting and vandalism.
Tiffany also retweeted her father's call for peace at the Capitol — a jarring reversal after Trump encouraged his same supporters to express their anger at his election loss. "Peace above all," Tiffany wrote also quoting her father's tweet, which itself was since taken down by the social media platform: "We have to have peace."
The National Guard was called in, and Washington's Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a 12-hour curfew from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. The Capitol was eventually cleared out and declared secure, and Congress certified Biden's victory overnight.
Four people have died, including a woman who was shot inside the Capitol, and more than a dozen police officers were injured. So far, authorities have arrested 70 people on charges related to the unrest, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.
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