On Wednesday, Donald Trump dropped that idea Behavior on January 6, 2021, It must cost him the support of Republican voters after a former supporter confronted him at a televised town hall and said he would not vote. former president for his actions that day.
In his response at the Univision event, Trump distanced himself from the attack on the Capitol while minimizing the damage done by a group of his supporters.
“He didn’t do anything wrong,” Trump said in a lengthy response after a Florida Republican voter said he lost his vote because of the riots and his responses to the Covid pandemic. The voter also questioned why he should support Trump when many senior people in his administration, including former Vice President Mike Pence, did not support him this year.
Trump said only a “very small fraction” did not support him. “But because I’m me, no one supports it so there’s a little bit of publicity,” he said.
“Vice President, I don’t agree with what he did. I totally disagree with what he did,” Trump said. Pence’s refusal Comply with requests to prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the election on January 6.
He later argued that thousands of supporters marching to Washington on Jan. 6 were not there, despite tweeting on Dec. 19, 2020: “Big protest in DC on Jan. 6. Be there, it’s going to be wild.”
“They didn’t come because of me,” Trump said Wednesday. They came because of the election, they thought it was a fake election and that’s why they came.”
In 2020 and beyond, Trump falsely claimed the election was stolen. Most of them He is accused of the January 6 riot they referred to his election lies.
On Wednesday, Trump described how some of the people who went to hear him speak outside the White House on Jan. 6 “came down to the Capitol” afterward. Trump did not mention that he asked them to do so and indicated that he would join them.
“We’re going to go down to the Capitol and applaud our brave senators and congressmen and women. And we probably won’t applaud some of them as much because you never will. You’ve got to take back our country with weakness, you’ve got to be strong.” he told the crowd On January 6. “We’re here to demand that Congress do the right thing and count only legally designated voters.”
He added, “I know everyone here will soon be marching to the Capitol building to hear your voice in peace and patriotism.”
Trump referred to his latest remark at the town hall, as he has done before.
“I said ‘peace and patriotism.’ Nothing was done wrong,” he said in a taped town hall that will air at 10 p.m. ET.
His lawyers also highlighted the “peaceful and patriotic” line from his impassioned speech in federal court in Washington, where he defended himself against charges that he tried to illegally overturn the election results, including an attack on the Capitol.
Prosecutors took a different position.
“Defendant knowingly summoned his supporters to Washington to attempt to obstruct and obstruct the proceedings, and then caused them to go to the Capitol to pressure the Vice President and legislators to reject the legal certificates and instead rely on forgery. election certificates,” special counsel Jack Smith’s team reflected in the application Wednesday.
Trump has admitted to the charges against him in Washington and elsewhere Election interference case in Georgia.
The rioters, who spent hours counting Trump’s election votes in the town hall, also called January 6. More than 140 police officers were injuredlike “love day”.
“There were no guns there. We didn’t have guns. The others had guns, but we didn’t have guns. When I say that these are the people who went down – it was a small percentage of the total number. No one sees and no one shows, but it was a day of love,” he said.
In testimony before a House committee on January 6, it was alleged that Trump knew many of the crowd were armed with guns. a range of weaponsIncluding weapons before the march to the Capitol.
It has been proven that the rioters were carrying firearms Christopher Albertssentenced to seven years in prison; Mark Mazzatwo carrying weapons and serving five years in federal prison; and Guy Reffitthe was sentenced to 7 years behind bars. Another defendant is awaiting trial fired his gun According to prosecutors, it took off twice at the beginning of the attack.
one Bloomberg interview Editor-in-chief John Micklethwaite said on Tuesday that the number of people who went to the Trump Capitol was “very, very small,” putting the total number at 500 to 700. “None of these people had guns,” he said.
In a speech he also gave that day, he described the scene as “love and peace and some people went to the Capitol and some very strange things happened.”
According to the Ministry of Justice, more than 1,500 people have been charged in connection with the attack on the Capitol. About 1,100 people have been convicted, with sentences ranging from a few days in jail to 22 years in federal prison.
Trump called the January 6 rioters “political prisoners”.pledges,” and “incredible patriots” and said that he would at least pardona large part” is one of his first tasks in office if elected in November.