Donald Trump Was Allegedly ‘Rooting’ For Rioters Amid Capitol Siege
A Friday report from CNN provided more insight into Donald Trump’s alleged state of mind as rioters infiltrated the United States Capitol on January 6.
“He is not a blameless observer, he was rooting for them. On January 13, Kevin McCarthy said on the floor of the House that the President bears responsibility and he does,” one Republican member of Congress told the publication.
The publication notably spoke to multiple GOP lawmakers who were briefed on a call between Trump and the House Republican leader that took place during the Capitol siege.
“The Republican members of Congress said the exchange showed Trump had no intention of calling off the rioters even as lawmakers were pleading with him to intervene. Several said it amounted to a dereliction of his presidential duty,” the report read.
The heated exchange was allegedly laced with expletives as McCarthy urged Trump to call the rioters off. According to the outlet, Trump brushed the lawmaker off and at one point suggested the protesters were “more upset about the election” than the GOP leader — a comment that reportedly set off a shouting match between the pair.
The CNN report comes as the Senate oversees the trial on the article of impeachment that charged Trump with inciting insurrection. According to the publication, multiple Republicans believed that the details of the call reveal the real estate mogul’s supposed lack of action during the attack.
“It’s unclear to what extent these new details were known by the House Democratic impeachment managers or whether the team considered calling McCarthy as a witness,” the outlet noted.
As The Inquisitr wrote, it was allegedly former Vice President Mike Pence — not Trump — who took action to mobilize the National Guard. Conversely, the former U.S. leader reportedly refused until White House counsel Pat A. Cipollone told him he could face legal action for ignoring the violence.
Trump’s impeachment defense team argued on Friday that he attempted to quell the violence and pointed to tweets that called for peace. However, as CNN noted, the former head of state did not explicitly tell rioters to leave the Capitol until hours after it was breached. In the meantime, Trump attacked Pence around the time he allegedly learned that his former second-in-command was in danger.
As reported by The Washington Post, Trump reportedly watched the storming of the Capitol from the White House. Notably, the outlet claimed that the former president was difficult to get a hold of because he was too busy watching the violence unfold on television.
