Trump doesn't take responsibility for Capitol riot, insists speech was 'totally appropriate'
Facing the prospect of a second impeachment for "incitement of insurrection," President Trump on Tuesday insisted a speech he delivered encouraging supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol and "show strength" was "totally appropriate."
In his first remarks to reporters since a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol to disrupt the certification of the election results, the president didn't take responsibility and defended the speech he delivered prior to the deadly riot.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
He went on to again assert that unnamed people have "analyzed" his speech and that "everybody to the T thought it was totally appropriate," even though he has faced widespread condemnation for the remarks, including from Republicans.
Trump in his speech had urged supporters in Washington to "walk down to the Capitol" where Congress was meeting to affirm President-elect Joe Biden's victory, and he called on them to "show strength" because "you'll never take back our country with weakness." The subsequent pro-Trump riot at the Capitol left five people dead, and on Monday, House Democrats introduced an article of impeachment charging Trump with inciting an insurrection; the resolution said he "willfully made statements that, in context, encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — lawless action at the Capitol."
Trump, while saying he wants "no violence," on Tuesday dismissed this second impeachment effort as "ridiculous" and said it's "causing tremendous danger to our country." He could become the only president in U.S. history to be impeached twice. Brendan Morrow
-
Film reviews: ‘Send Help’ and ‘Private Life’Feature An office doormat is stranded alone with her awful boss and a frazzled therapist turns amateur murder investigator
-
Movies to watch in Februarythe week recommends Time travelers, multiverse hoppers and an Iraqi parable highlight this month’s offerings during the depths of winter
-
ICE’s facial scanning is the tip of the surveillance icebergIN THE SPOTLIGHT Federal troops are increasingly turning to high-tech tracking tools that push the boundaries of personal privacy
-
EU and India clinch trade pact amid US tariff warSpeed Read The agreement will slash tariffs on most goods over the next decade
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
-
Maduro pleads not guilty in first US court hearingSpeed Read Deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores pleaded not guilty to cocaine trafficking and narco-terrorism conspiracy
