Even though Donald Trump called for an end to the riot at the U.S. Capitol Building last week, he continues to evade responsibility for instigating the attempted coup.
On Tuesday, Trump responded to reporters while departing from Joint Base Andrews where he was asked what his role was in the insurrection that occurred last Wednesday. Trump said that his remarks to his supporters before they stormed the Capitol Building were “totally appropriate.”
“They’ve analyzed my speech and my words and my final paragraph, my final sentence, and everybody, to the T, thought it was totally appropriate,” Trump told reporters.
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Trump had urged his supporters to come to Washington to participate in the “Save America March,” where he also held a “Stop The Steal” rally at the Ellipse just outside of the White House. During his speech, he rallied up his supporters with his unproven and baseless claims of voter fraud and told them to march on the Capitol to stop the election from being “stolen” from him.
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them,” Trump said.
“Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated,” he continued. “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Democrats and Republicans have denounced the violent acts that occurred and have condemned Trump for his responsibility in instigating his supporters. The House of Representatives moves to impeach Trump for a second time on Wednesday, charging Trump with “incitement of insurrection.” Trump’s speech delivered at the rally is being used as the basis for the charges brought against him.
Impeachment would take a two-thirds majority in the Senate to remove Trump from office. Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, said that the House will move forward with the articles of impeachment if the 25th amendment is not invoked. In order to invoke the 25th amendment, Vice President Mike Pence has to be on board with it. It is currently believed that Pence will not invoke the Amendment.