U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the press as he leaves the White House while traveling to visit the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Texas, Washington, the United States, Jan. 12, 2021.
Kevin Lemarque | Reuters
President Donald Trump on Tuesday doubled the incendiary rhetoric that sparked the Capitol riot last week and warned grimly that it would be dangerous for the United States to be charged for his conduct.
Trump also claimed that his inflammatory comments at a rally shortly before thousands of his supporters marched into the convention halls on Wednesday were not harmful.
“People thought what I was saying was perfectly reasonable,” Trump told reporters before traveling to Texas when asked what his personal responsibility was for the violence.
The uprising came after he and his family members rallied to urge supporters to fight him to undo the victory of Joe Biden’s electoral college.
Trump on Tuesday re-used the kind of language critics say fuels the mob, calling the proposed impeachment by the Democrat-run House of Representatives “really a continuation of the greatest witch hunt in politics.”
“It’s ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous,” Trump said in his first comments to the media since the uprising that killed one Capitol police officer and killed four others.
“This impeachment is causing tremendous anger, and you are doing it, and it is really a terrible thing that you are doing,” Trump said, apparently blaming reporters for his impeachment.
“To the [House Speaker] Nancy Pelosi and [Democratic leader Sen.] Chuck Schumer, to continue down this path, I think this poses a tremendous danger to our country and causes tremendous anger, “he said.
The president then said, “I don’t want violence.”
“In that regard, we don’t want violence, we absolutely don’t want violence,” Trump said.
However, he did not expressly condemn the actions of his supporters in the Capitol, who were motivated to protest against Congress’ s confirmation of and preventing the election of Biden as the next president.
Trump didn’t respond on Tuesday when asked if he would step down before his term expires next week.
The hours of chaos at the Capitol interrupted that certification with a joint congressional session, but Biden’s election was confirmed early Thursday morning in a process overseen by Vice President Mike Pence.
The District of Columbia attorney general said Monday it would investigate whether Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., the President’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, and Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala were rallying.
Kevin McCarthy, Chairman of the Minority House, R-Calif., Reportedly told GOP caucus members that Trump had some responsibility for the insurrection on the same day.
The president, who has been banned from a number of social media platforms for his comments since last week, said, “I think Big Tech made a terrible mistake.”
In an obvious reference to his ban on Twitter and elsewhere, Trump said it was “very, very bad for our country and that is causing others to do the same”.
“And it creates a lot of problems and a lot of dangers. Big mistake. You shouldn’t do it,” said the president.
“But there is always a backlash when they do that. I’ve never seen as much trouble as I see now, and that’s a terrible thing.”
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