Jan. 6 committee member calls on Republicans to denounce Trump's celebration of political violence
Donald Trump's latest idea to attack those investigating him is by claiming "prosecutorial misconduct." The reality is that something like that happens when a prosecutor breaks the law, not when they annoy a high-profile politician.
"I think, obviously, he appears to be worried that he will be indicted. I don't know if we'll be indicted, but certainly, he engaged in criminal conduct," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), who sat on the House Select Committee investigating Jan. 6 and the attempt to overthrow the 2020 election. "I mean, our committee did criminal referrals. Of course, doing the referral and, you know, being the prosecutors, two different things. They have to make sure that not only do they have probable cause, but I think, given the high profile of the potential defendant, they're going to want to ensure that they have sufficient evidence to convict. So, there's no evidence whatsoever that there's anything improper on the part of the prosecutors. Although, the ex-president certainly tried to weaponize the Department of Justice when he was president."
CNN host Jim Acosta honed in on some of the languages that Trump has started using, calling the 2024 election "the final battle." Acosta noted that Trump made the comment ahead of the 30th anniversary of the Branch Davidian's stand-off with the ATF. Zofgren shook her head with dismay.
She brought up the startling similarities in Trump's rhetoric during the Waco speech and the kind of language he used on Jan. 6.
"In fact, in some ways, it's more overt and blatant than the events leading up to Jan. 6th. I mean, he posted a picture of himself holding a baseball bat, next to the prosecutor in Manhattan, calling the prosecutor a number of horrible names like an animal and thug," Lofgren recalled. "He disparaged the idea that his followers should remain peaceful. This is cause for concern. We know that certainly not all of his followers are inclined to take up arms, but there's enough of them who are willing to do battle on his behalf that someone could get killed, and people were killed, obviously, on Jan. 6."
Acosta noted that as images from the attack on the Capitol played on a large screen, the voices of the men in prison for participating in the violence were playing, singing the national anthem.
"He's elevating the violence," Lofgren. "We know from our investigation that he tried various ways to overturn the election, but he was left only with mob violence by the time Jan. 6th rolled around. To elevate people who have been either convicted or, in most cases, pled guilty to violent assault, these were individuals who viciously attacked police officers in the assault on the Capitol. That's not patriotism. And that he would elevate them as admirable, I think tells me a lot about where the ex-president is in terms of honoring and encouraging violence. I think it's something that's cause for concern. I am worried, frankly, that my Republican colleagues, I think many of them don't agree, but they are not speaking up, and they need to do that, or else once again, we'll see, potentially, violence brought into the political arena. And that's not American. That's absolutely the opposite of being pro-American."
See her full comments below or at the link here.
Zoe Lofgren calls on Republicans to push back against Trump violence youtu.be