Trump reportedly acknowledges some blame in deadly Capitol riot
The Stop the Steal rally quickly turned into a violent riot that left five people dead, including a police officer
President Donald Trump has reportedly accepted some responsibility for last week’s deadly riots in the U.S. Capitol, so says GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy.
McCarthy made the claim on a House GOP-wide conference call, during which he also noted that he has urged the president to reach out to President-elect Joe Biden and congratulate him on his election win, Fox News reports.
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The pro-Trump Stop the Steal rally on Wednesday quickly turned into a violent riot that left five people dead, including a Capitol police officer. Supporters of Trump stormed the Capitol building amid the ceremonial counting of the electoral votes to confirm Biden’s victory. Trump had urged them to fight against the event, and they responded to his call to action.
Amid the storming of the Capitol, Trump responded to the insurrection in a now-deleted Tweet by telling the violent mob: “We love you. You are very special.”
He also sympathized with the rioters, saying, “I know your pain, I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it. Especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace.”
On Thursday, during Trump’s temporary ban on Twitter, White House deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino posted a statement from the president, saying: “Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th.”
“I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted,” Trump continued. “While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”
In the days since, the president has been cut off from all his social media channels to prevent him from further riling up the racist, anti-government extremists in his base.
Prior to McCarthy’s remarks about Trump’s current state of mind over the attack, the president has not taken any responsibility for his role in inciting the deadly riots.
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Insiders claim that while Trump was hiding from the domestic terrorists in a secret location, he watched the chaos unfold on TV and ignored pleas for help from lawmakers trapped inside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Washington Post reports.
“He was hard to reach, and you know why? Because it was live TV,” said one close Trump adviser. “If it’s TiVo, he just hits pause and takes the calls. If it’s live TV, he watches it, and he was just watching it all unfold.”
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