President Joe Biden’s inauguration was historically unique with a large military presence and millions of Americans watching from home. As the federal government swore in the 46th president on the U.S. Capitol steps on Jan. 20, roughly 25,000 National Guard members stood alert throughout Washington, a reminder of the deadly insurrection carried out on those steps just weeks before.
Of the many security precautions taken for the event, disarming Americans troops was not one of them, as claimed on social media.
“Biden’s transition team has revealed there is a very real fear that members of the national guard who support President Trump might kill Biden during the inauguration so they’ve asked commanders to confiscate all ammo and magazines from the soldiers,” claims a viral meme shared many times before Jan. 20.
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A soldier standing masked outside the Capitol is pictured under the false claim.
Twitter user amuse shared the claim and photo on Twitter on Jan. 17, where it received more than 4,400 quote tweets, 6,100 retweets and 10,200 likes.
In a Twitter thread, imuse added to the falsehoods, claiming Biden’s team had requested soldiers' voting records and demoting Secret Service agents with Trump loyalties.
USA TODAY contacted amuse and several Facebook users that posted the meme. None of them responded.