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Sex workers in a red light district in the Netherlands, where one Irish victim was trafficked PETER DEJONG/AP/Press Association Images

Column Think about sex trafficking. Do Irish people come to mind?

They should. Irish people have been trafficked abroad for sex – but it’s not as simple as you might think, writes David Lohan.

Irish people have been the victims of human trafficking. But it’s not just a matter of shackles or darkened rooms – it’s a lot more subtle than that, and it means something for all of us, writes David Lohan.

WHEN THE TERM ‘human trafficking’ is mentioned what deeds come to mind? When the term ‘victim of human trafficking’ is mentioned, what mental imagery is conveyed?

These are important considerations. Many misconceptions exist concerning human trafficking, with the result that debates on the issue often become bogged down in matters that are in truth of little relevance to real situations or to real victims.

Irish citizens were exploited for forced labour in Australia around 2008. And at least one Irish citizen was trafficked for forced commercial sexual exploitation in Holland’s legalised sex industry. The eighth report of the Dutch National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings shows that in 2003 an Irish victim of human trafficking was encountered in Holland (page 162). Little else is recorded about this particular case.

However, in 2005 another Irish victim was recorded, and comparably more is known about this woman (page 163). She was identified as part of Holland’s notorious Sneep Case. Verification of the relationship between the 2005 case and the Sneep Case comes from numerous sources, including one report from the Dutch National Crime Squad (page 11).

Three aspects of the Sneep Case contributed to the high profile it received. The first was the viciousness with which the victims were treated by their traffickers. The second was the enormity of the case, some 120 victims, all women and all trafficked into forced commercial sexual exploitation by a Turkish gang. The third was the fact that the case challenged the misconceptions concerning victimhood – as the victims were found, not locked in darkened rooms, but openly advertised in the Red Light district of Holland’s open-window prostitution. Some had been on sale there for 10 years.

Modern-day slaves

It is small wonder then that the Dutch National Rapporteur has noted situations “of human trafficking are not always easy to recognise.” Indeed an understanding of human trafficking premised solely on kidnappings, physical restraints and darkened rooms offers little insight into how the events of the Sneep Case could have come to pass.

Most are surprised to learn that human trafficking has little to do with kidnapping. Sure, kidnappings do occasionally occur, but they are the exception rather than the norm. Some are surprised too when it is conveyed that the internationally agreed definition of human trafficking, the Palermo Protocol, does not require movement or transport to occur for an act of human trafficking to be committed.

Indeed most human trafficking occurs within the confines of national borders, an act referred to as internal human trafficking. Some estimates state that of the 27 million people who live as modern-day slaves only some of them, 600,000 to 800,000, are moved across borders annually. Human trafficking is not then an issue of migration, albeit it can be an issue for some migrants.

Human trafficking is a process. At the heart of this process is violence. The process is one which usually includes, at a minimum, the following acts: the use of deception, the use of debt, threats against the trafficked person and against family members, verbal abuse and rape. The purpose of this process is well-understood by those who have enslaved their fellow human beings over many generations: it is the process by which compliant slaves are fashioned. Little by little the person’s spirit is killed off in a process that may be likened to domestic abuse; it is after all the body that traffickers exploit.

There is no need for shackles or locks. Real control comes by less overt means. Victims of human trafficking are not locked in darkened rooms out of sight. Indeed they would be of little use, or profit, to their traffickers if they were. Even human traffickers need to advertise their wares if they are to profit from the exploitation of their victims and each year they net an estimated US$32 billion. In the Western world those wares are most often sold as prostitutes.

Cold-hearted crime

Bearing these facts in mind one should now ask whether the mental imagery that resulted from the questions posed earlier is challenged. The truth of all these statements is evident, not by virtue of any claim made in this article, but through the thousands upon thousands of cases described by the media in articles across the world, through government reports and through the countless reports of agencies providing support for self-identifying victims. All of these resources are readily available to readers via the internet. The sameness of the tale they tell soon becomes apparent to interested readers and it testifies to efficacy of the cold-hearted crime perpetrated daily against victims across the globe, usually in the pursuit of money.

Human trafficking is a reality in Ireland. It does not involve kidnappings. It does not require transportation. Of the 137 victims detailed in the annual report of Ireland’s Anti Human Trafficking Unit at the Department of Justice over the past two years six of those encountered were Irish children. The US Trafficking in Persons Report 2012 sheds further light on these claims, saying children “are subjected to prostitution in various cities in Ireland, including Kilkenny, Cork, and Dublin” (page 192).

Human trafficking is not an issue merely for the Irish state, but for Irish communities. When one looks at the places where all these victims have been located one quickly realises that victims are often in our very midst. When one confronts the misconceptions concerning human trafficking the realisation occurs that its victims are not out of sight, but rather hidden in plain sight. Their binds are not physical restraints but those delivered through physical, psychological and, sometimes even, spiritual abuse.

Awareness is a key element in tackling this, and other, abuses perpetrated against the person. However, awareness cannot be premised on misunderstandings. It demands real understanding of what is done by traffickers, why it is done and how they benefit. My hope is that this article will go some way, as a start at least, towards challenging commonly held misconceptions that hinder this understanding.

David Lohan is the co-author of a book on human trafficking, Open Secrets: An Irish Perspective on Trafficking & Witchcraft. All proceeds of the book go towards helping the work of Cois Tine, a charitable organisation which provides outreach services to African migrants living in Ireland. David Lohan is presently completing a masters in politics at University College Cork. More information on human trafficking is available from his website at PalermoProtocol.com.

Read: Children subjected to prostitution in Dublin, Cork and Kilkenny>

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    Mute Me-llamo Noel
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:09 PM

    @Steve Creaton: You should be ashamed of yourself to make such a comment.

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    Mute Brian Boru
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:13 PM

    Let’s be honest, he will be too old for a second term, especially in the final year or two. The Democrats have a problem on their hands.

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    Mute Paul Furey
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:08 PM

    @Steve Creaton: why?

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    Mute Rafa Condron
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:09 PM

    Happens me all the time. I’m half his age.

    Never forget putting on the swagger walk when I was younger, group of young ones coming towards me, tripped on a crack in the pavement and faceplanted. They laughed. I laughed.

    I was a lovely shade of red.

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    Mute An Drew Bearla
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    Jun 1st 2023, 11:06 PM

    @Rafa Condron: if this is commonplace for you, fair enough. How many times does he have to stumble and mumble before people admit he is not fit for office.

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    Mute Rafa Condron
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 4:58 AM

    @An Drew Bearla: what an inane comment. Bore off

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    Mute Colm Kane
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 9:56 AM

    @An Drew Bearla: Did you not see the sandbag that was on the stage that he tripped over…. It can happen to anyone!

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    Mute Mark O Brien
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 11:02 AM

    @An Drew Bearla: The same people who think Biden isn’t fit for office for these reasons will swear blind that trump is fit for office, and he has done much of the same type of stuff.

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    Mute An Drew Bearla
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 1:45 PM

    @Mark O Brien: I know this is difficult to comprehend, but just because you criticise Biden, it does not mean you support Trump. Treating politics the same as your favourite football team leads to this type of blinkered vision, resulting in terrible politics and government.

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    Mute Daithi
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:31 PM

    He was rather slow getting back up – one could say he was Biden his time.

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    Mute Joanne Stokes
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:44 PM

    @Daithi: hahaha…

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    Mute Aindriú de Domhain
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:13 PM

    @Steve Creaton: You should be in a care home

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    Mute McMahon G
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:43 PM

    RFK Jr. for President.

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    Mute Tony Murphy
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:57 PM

    @McMahon G: YES!!

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    Mute John A.
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:28 PM

    @Hannah Hannah: You should all be ashamed of yourselves for trying to make eachother feel ashamed!

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    Mute Tony Murphy
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:55 PM

    @McMahon G: Yes, showering with his teenage daughter puts him in that category. She attributes her subsequent problems to this experience.

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    Mute Real Chief Police Trump MAGA 2024
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:56 PM

    Hope the clone makes a full recovery

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    Mute Denis Ryan
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:23 PM

    @Real Chief Police Trump MAGA 2024: I thought you said he was a actor with a 3/4 scale white house on a sound stage.

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    Mute Real Chief Police Trump MAGA 2024
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:30 PM

    @Denis Ryan: I got intel from a reliable source that for 80′s actor Arthur roberts was removed as a body double as he wasn’t playing to the ‘script’.

    when roberts (playing Biden) met boris johnson last summer he asked johnson did he ever see any of his martial arts movies in the 80′s. Johnson became suspicious and democrats decided to use a clone to lay Biden. No one knows what became of roberts. Clearly this clone is malfuntioning. the technology is still at the early stages…

    https://flipboard.com/article/biden-body-double-blows-cover-during-meet-with-boris-johnson-real-raw-news/f-bf1486acd5%2Frealrawnews.com

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    Mute Andy O'B
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:57 PM

    @Real Chief Police Trump MAGA 2024: the crazy thing about the internet is now I do not know if you are being serious or not…if you aren’t, it’s a funny joke. If you are being serious, you need help. Seriously!

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    Mute Real Chief Police Trump MAGA 2024
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    Jun 1st 2023, 11:10 PM

    @Andy O’B: I’m only offering you the red pill to learn potentially unsettling or life-changing truths – or the blue pill of you wish to continue living in the matrix. you will never see who deep the rabbit hole goes sniffling around on the surface
    https://www.buymeacoffee.com/truther

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    Mute Denis Ryan
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    Jun 1st 2023, 11:21 PM

    @Andy O’B: Seriously Andy, would you not take the red pill ;)
    So to recap red pill good, blue pill bad. Its weird most of the pills I took back in the day were white or slightly speckled. Had a pink panther once in Amsterdam but that’s a story for another day.

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    Mute Daithi Mac An TSionnaigh
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:40 PM

    @Steve Creaton: you should be in a care home

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    Mute Martin Lynch
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:38 PM

    @Steve Creaton: Disgusting comment!

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    Jun 1st 2023, 11:03 PM

    @Hannah Hannah: oh look Anna Anna is back.

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    Mute john murray
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:23 PM

    Not as horrific as that time Enda Kenny tripped over a plantpot and accused Ursula Halligan of assault.

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    Mute Barry Donnelly
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:58 PM

    Yeah but Trump

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    Mute GERARD KENNELLY
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:41 AM

    @Willie Marty:

    Compilation Joe Biden CSPAN

    RAW VIDEO & AUDIO January 6, 2015

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    Mute R
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:56 PM

    @Steve Creaton: I hope when you’re his age we say the same about you.

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    Mute Michael Holland
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 12:21 AM

    If this happened Trump, there’d be another witch hunt..

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    Mute GERARD KENNELLY
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:43 AM

    @Michael Holland:

    i saw a Trump interview recently and he said Biden isn’t physically fit to be POTUS

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    Mute R
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:58 PM

    @Hannah Hannah: You should be ashamed of yourself for believing in that conspiracy theory bulls**t

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    Mute Johnny Kelly
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 2:02 AM

    @Steve Creaton: He is 80!
    It can happen.
    More care needs to be taken where he has to climb on and off stages

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    Mute Rafa Condron
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:29 PM

    @John A.: SHAME!

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    Mute Lydia McLoughlin
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:56 PM

    @Steve Creaton: I’d say he’s being very well cared for at home at the moment!

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    Mute Ham Hat
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    Jun 1st 2023, 10:35 PM

    He loves the Apartheid Occupation of the Middle East more than his homeless people. Such a ziosless

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    Mute GERARD KENNELLY
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:42 AM

    @Ham Hat:

    Joe Biden was committee chairman the week W Bush and Blair lied about WMD

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    Mute John Moore
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 12:13 AM

    He styled it out well. Nobody noticed.

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    Mute Vladimir Poitín
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 12:55 AM

    @John Moore: lol.

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    Mute Paul Furey
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 12:17 AM

    @Hannah Hannah: oh good grief!!! While your cult hero’s delays and ridiculous advice killed 1000s.

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    Mute Jason Walsh
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:41 PM

    He definitely ordered a nuclear strike on that sand bag. “I’m said nuke it, I’m the president god darn it”

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    Mute Robert Halvey
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 7:19 AM

    Who among us ,of any age ,has not stumbled and in fact fell down .

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    Mute Anthony Ross
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    Jun 1st 2023, 9:46 PM

    I would say who put the bag there maybe a trumpet

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    Mute Numinous20111
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    Jun 1st 2023, 11:11 PM

    @Anthony Ross: Whoever left any obstacle on a podium being used by a President (no matter what the president’s age or which president) should get a serious chewing out. That is beyond stupid carelessness.

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    Mute Daniel Carry
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 2:10 AM

    So what. Gerald Ford did it all the time. Bush Sr puked into the lap of the Japanese Prime Minister FFS.

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    Mute Jimmy Fitzpatrick
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 5:56 AM

    I was at a confirmation yesterday and I seen 3 people slip, won’t tell what gender they were!

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    Mute GERARD KENNELLY
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:46 AM

    @Jimmy Fitzpatrick:

    my uncle was working in Galway years ago and he was climbing up a ladder

    he was wearing white sneakers

    a man said “Isn’t it a fright to god to see a grown man still wearing his communion shoes”

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    Mute Dave Grant
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 7:46 AM

    Russia.

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    Mute Anna Carr
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:16 AM

    I would trip over my own shadow and I’m not yet Joe’s age, but he certainly does seem to have some senior deterioration issues, mentally. But then, the USA presidency does seem to be a puppet title… Unless you’re Donald Trump.

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    Mute Edd
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 11:29 AM

    Who the US President is does not matter as they are not decision makers but they just rubber stamp the decisions of others.

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    Mute Fearg
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 9:50 AM

    American ‘elections’ are just their version of EuroVision. It’s shameful how poor the performers are. Surely there is more talent available for the corporate controllers to employ.

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    Mute GERARD KENNELLY
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 8:34 AM

    @Steve Creaton:

    Compilation Joe Biden

    CSPAN

    RAW VIDEO & AUDIO

    January 6, 2015

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    Mute Patrick D Keane
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    Jun 2nd 2023, 2:48 PM

    No need for a lone gunman when Biden is around

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