Ex-US President Donald Trump, according to NY Times journalist Maggie Haberman, has been telling "a number of people" that he will gain back his title of US president "by August".
"Trump has been telling a number of people he's in contact with that he expects he will get reinstated by August (no that isn't how it works but simply sharing the information)," Haberman tweeted, attaching a video of a CNN report on ex-national security adviser Michael Flynn appearing to suggest a Myanmar-like coup in the US.
Haberman went on to note that it was not "happening in a vacuum", pointing at how Trump "faced the possibility of an indictment from the Manhattan DA". The journalist also said that the former president has been "laser focused" on election audits.
It isn’t happening in a vacuum. It is happening as he faced the possibility of an indictment from the Manhattan DA.
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) June 1, 2021
Earlier on Monday, Flynn, speaking at a QAnon conference in Texas, appeared to voice support for a Myanmar-style coup to happen in the United States, stating that it "should happen". The video quickly went viral and prompted a backlash from many, with some observers pointing at reports suggesting that QAnon believers back the idea of a coup similar to Myanmar's taking place in the US and placing Trump back in the White House.
Flynn, however, quickly denied allegations that he supports a coup in the US, writing on Telegram that he "does not and have not at any time called for any action of that sort".
"Let me be VERY CLEAR – There is NO reason whatsoever for any coup in America, and I do not and have not at any time called for any action of that sort", Flynn wrote. "I am no stranger to media manipulating my words and therefore let me repeat my response to a question asked at the conference: There is no reason it (a coup) should happen here (in America)."
Flynn, Trump's first of five national security advisers during his four-year term, shares the former president's belief that he won the 2020 presidential election. Flynn pled guilty to lying to the FBI following allegations of contact with Russian diplomats during the 2016 election, but later withdrew his plea. Trump pardoned his former national security adviser in December 2020.
The former US president has refused to accept the results of the 2020 White House election, continuing to claim that US President Joe Biden's victory is the result of what he and his supporters believe to be "massive election fraud". Back on 6 January, when a violent mob that included Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol to prevent the certification of the election results, Trump was accused of inciting the insurrection and impeached a second time by House Democrats based on the accusations.
Acquitted later by the Senate, the former president was ousted by mainstream social media platforms including Twitter and Facebook. Trump denied involvement in inciting the deadly Capitol riot.
