Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) accused Donald Trump Sunday of deliberately attempting to “speed up the violence” already raging on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, against his vice chairman, Mike Pence, in a reckless bid to hold onto power.
Lofgren, a member of the House select committee investigating the riot, pointed to the tweet the previous president sent out attacking Pence at the same time as Trump supporters were violently storming the Capitol Jan. 6, 2021.
Former White House aides testified eventually week’s House committee hearing that Trump was urged to send a message to assist quell the violence. But he as an alternative fired off a tweet mid-riot saying Pence “didn’t have the courage to do what must have been done” — referring to Pence’s refusal to reject electoral votes that certified Joe Biden’s victory.
A video of the scene on the Capitol after Trump’s tweet shows a rioter then announcing that Pence “betrayed us,” infuriating the gang. Supporters were soon chanting: “Hang Mike Pence!”
“When he sent out the tweet attacking his vice chairman, he already knew that the violence was underway,” Lofgren said on “Face the Nation” on CBS. “The one conclusion you’ll be able to reach is that he intended to speed up that violence against the previous vice chairman.”
The previous president’s niece, Mary Trump, accused her uncle in an interview last week of essentially “handing down a death sentence to Pence,” and suggested that Pence’s murder could have helped Trump claim justification for declaring martial law.
Likewise, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman accused Trump on MSNBC on Saturday of “inducing a murderous rage” in his supporters as a part of a “arrange” against Pence.
Lofgren also accused Trump of fomenting a chillingly lawless, violent culture in America today. She pointed to “very conservative” Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) being yelled at and “roughed up” by extremist Republicans Saturday on the Texas Republican Party Convention in Houston.
“I feel that’s what the previous president has unleashed here,” she added.
