Trump calls rally speech ‘totally appropriate’ when asked about role in Capitol riot
President Donald Trump on Tuesday refused to take responsibility for last week’s violent attack on the U.S. Capitol and defended the speech he gave to supporters beforehand.
“If you read my speech, and many people have done it, and I’ve seen it both in the papers and in the media, on television. It’s been analyzed and people thought that what I said was totally appropriate,” he told reporters when asked about his role in the violent riot.
Lawmakers from both parties have blamed the siege on the president’s rhetoric. He’s continuously made false claims that the election was fraudulent and stolen from him, and during the Wednesday rally, urged his supporters to march on Capitol Hill.
Rioters later did and breached the Capitol building as Congress was convened to certify the Electoral College results — scaling walls, smashing windows, breaking into the U.S. Senate chamber and reaching the U.S. House of Representatives chamber.
Five people have died as a result of the attack. Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick died Thursday from injuries sustained during the attack. One woman was fatally shot inside the Capitol and three others died from medical emergencies in the area.
Dozens of other law enforcement officers were injured and dozens of arrests have been made.
Trump held off condemning the violence during much of the siege, eventually releasing a video in which he again touted false claims about the election and told the rioters “we love you” while urging them to go home.
House Democrats have introduced one article of impeachment against the president for “incitement of insurrection” following the attack.
Democratic lawmakers have also urged Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment, which with the support of a majority of Cabinet members would remove Trump from office. But Pence has reportedly said he doesn’t support doing so. It’s also unlikely impeachment would result in his removal from office.
It could, however, result in other consequences and would make Trump the only president in U.S. history to be impeached more than once.
Additionally, multiple social media platforms — including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, have suspended or banned the president’s accounts, citing the risk of more violence following the siege.
The president’s remarks contrast earlier reports that he had taken some responsibility for the attack. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy reportedly told fellow House Republicans that Trump made the comments to him, multiple people familiar with the conversation told CBS News and other outlets.
Trump’s comments Tuesday were made before he departed for Alamo, Texas, where he is expected to visit the border wall. It marked the first time he took questions from reporters since the siege.
Some lawmakers are renewing their calls for Trump’s removal from office in response to his defense of the speech.
“This man is the single greatest threat to our nation right now,” Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat from Colorado tweeted. “He must be removed immediately.”
DeGette has previously called for the president to be “impeached, removed from office and arrested immediately.”
“25th Amendment — now,” Sen. Tim Kaine, a Virginia Democrat tweeted.
“I don’t know what ‘people’ he is referring to but I do know they’re wrong,” Rep. Sean Maloney, a Democrat from New York, tweeted of Trump’s comments. “Trump’s speech incited a riot that killed 5 people. We can’t get this liar out of office soon enough.”
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 11:20 AM with the headline "Trump calls rally speech ‘totally appropriate’ when asked about role in Capitol riot."
