Former President Donald Trump told a reporter he was “surprised” when a mob of his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, rioting in protest of the 2020 presidential election outcome. Trump’s assertion was published on Tuesday in a new book by Washington Examiner senior political correspondent David Drucker. The former president told Drucker in a May interview he “was not surprised when they went down to the Capitol to cheer. But I was surprised that they went [into] the Capitol.”
On the same day that Joe Biden was officially declared the winner of the election, Trump held a rally where he encouraged his supporters to “fight like hell” against the results. If they didn’t, he said, “you’re not going to have a country anymore.” He also told the crowd he’d walk to the Capitol with them. Trump told Drucker the Secret Service foiled that plan. “I wanted to go down with the crowd,” he insisted. “I said I was going to go down with the crowd. But they wouldn’t let me go. I think if I did go down there, I would have stopped the people from doing anything bad.”
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