On 28 February 2017, Senate Democrats posted a short video statement from former U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch (who held that position during the last two years of President Obama's second term) which has been cited to accuse her of encouraging violent protests against President Donald Trump's administration.
I know that this is a time of great fear and uncertainty for so many people. I know it’s a time of concern for people who see our rights being assailed, being trampled on, and even being rolled back. I know that this is difficult, but I remind you that this has never been easy. We have always had to work to move this country forward to achieve the great ideals of our Founding Fathers.
It has been people, individuals who have banded together, ordinary people who simply saw what needed to be done and came together and supported those ideals who have made the difference. They’ve marched, they’ve bled and yes, some of them died. This is hard. Every good thing is. We have done this before. We can do this again.
Conservative news sites subsequently asserted that Lynch was calling for "blood [and] death in the streets," or of encouraging "anti-Trump chaos."
We reached out both to Lynch's representatives and the Senate Democratic Caucus seeking comment, but Lynch's wording that "They've marched, they've bled, and yes, some of them died" appears to be a reference to the deaths of activists who took part in the Civil Rights movement and not an exhortation that dissenters should engage in extreme violence to oppose current administration actions.
Donald Trump's election on November 2016 was greeted with multiple protests around the U.S. More than 200 people were arrested following demonstrations against his inauguration on 20 January 2017.
A day later, another protest, the Woman's March on Washington, drew a reported 4.5 million participants worldwide. A spinoff event, "A Day Without a Woman," is scheduled to be held on 8 March 2017.