Trump says he and the Kaptol rioters wanted the same thing: to defeat Biden

Former president Donald Trump told reporters that he wanted the same thing that members of the mob did during violent revolt at the Capitol wanted: annulment of the presidential election Joe Biden.

“Personally, what I wanted was them,” Trump said of the rioters, according to an article Monday at Vanity Fair it’s an excerpt from a new book, “I Can Fix It Myself,” by Washington Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker.

The former president reduced the deadly violence at the Capitol that day, repeating several lies and erroneous claims about the integrity of the elections, the article states.

“They showed up just to show support, because I happen to believe the election was rigged at a level never before rigged,” Trump told two reporters during an interview in late March at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.

“There is huge evidence. There is huge evidence. Statistically, that was not even possible [Biden] Winn. Things like, if you beat Florida and Ohio and Iowa, there’s never been a loss, ”he said.

Trump also claimed in an interview that Capitol police that day welcomed members of the crowd in Congress halls and greeted them warmly after thousands of his supporters marched from a rally in front of the White House, urging them to fight confirmation of Biden’s victory in Congress. .

“Honestly, the Capitol police introduced people,” Trump said.

“The Capitol police were very kind. They hugged and kissed. You don’t see that. There’s a lot of tape about it,” he said in the article, titled, “I bring the news: Donald Trump’s feverish mind two months after leaving the White House.”

The article notes that “Trump did not mention countless reports of horrific violence – that of a ruthless mob that pushed a police officer to the ground, later threatening to shoot him with his own gun, or a rebel who threw a flagpole at another police officer’s chest, or another policeman howling in pain as he was squeezed in closing the door. “

However, Trump alluded, diagonally, to violence, albeit after speaking at his rally before the Capitol uprising about the “crowd he loves”.

“There was a lot of love. I heard that from everyone. Many, many people told me it was a crowd that loved,” Trump said before adding, “It was too bad, it was bad that they did it. . “

More than 500 people were arrested in connection with the riot, which attacked the Senate chamber, led to then-Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress hiding in safe locations, and interrupted for hours the joint session of Congress that was in the process of confirming Biden’s victory.

Five people died in the riots, including Capitol Officer Brian Sicknick. More than 100 police officers were injured in the commotion.

During an interview with Post reporters, Trump realized that Pence and Barr had failed to fulfill his claims and take steps to keep him in office. Pence oversaw a joint session of Congress on Jan. 6.

“The biggest scam ever committed in this country was the last election,” Trump said in an interview. “It was rigged and stolen. It was both. It was a combination, and Bill Barr did nothing about it.”

“If Mike Pence had had the courage to return it to the legislature, in my opinion you would have had a different outcome,” the former president said.

Trump also blamed the U.S. Supreme Court, which has three judges he appointed, for failing to accept his campaign’s campaign demands.

“I needed better judges. The Supreme Court was afraid to take him,” Trump said. “It [Biden’s win] it was to be annulled by the Supreme Court. I am very disappointed in the Supreme Court because they did a very bad thing for the country. “

In an interview, Trump destroyed other Republicans as well as members of his own administration, including Senate Minority Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, former Parliament Speaker Paul Ryan, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, and others. Anthony Fauci, Ph.D. Deborah Birx, the late Senator John McCain, Senator, Mitt Romney, Senator Ben Sasse and Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey.

Trump called McConnell, whose wife Elaine Chao was Trump’s secretary of transport, a “stupid person” for refusing to eliminate a Senate filibuster and for not convincing Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, to become a Republican.

He also boasted of Mar-a-Lago’s position on the coast, the size of one of the window panes and his four-year term. His spokesman handed reporters copies of a bound document titled “1,000 Achievements of President Donald J. Trump: Highlights of the First Term,” the article said.

Trump also suggested that he was and remained undefeated in the election against any other living candidate.

“I think it would have been hard if George Washington had come back from the dead and elected Abraham Lincoln as his vice president, I think it would have been very hard to beat me up,” Trump said.

Correction: Trump’s press secretary handed reporters copies of a bound document titled “1,000 Achievements of President Donald J. Trump: Highlights,” the article said. An earlier version misidentified the parties involved.