On Wednesday night, Jimmy Kimmel devoted a large chunk of his late-night monologue to former President Donald Trump’s off-the-rails interview with Newsmax, a network that is being sued for big money over its continued promotion of bogus election-fraud claims.
During the sit-down, Trump floated a bizarre, fact-free conspiracy: that Nancy Pelosi was somehow to blame for the Jan. 6 insurrection, though it was a group of Trump supporters—at his behest—that stormed the U.S. Capitol in a failed attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
“Our crazy ex-president is busy blaming everyone but himself for what happened Jan. 6. Last night, I mentioned he called for an investigation into why Mike Pence refused to overturn the election. Now, he’s trying to pin the riot on Nancy Pelosi,” explained Kimmel.
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“Uncle Scam did an interview with Newsmax, during which he once again made the false claim that he called for 10,000 troops to protect the Capitol from the nuts he instructed to march over there,” the host added.
Indeed, during the interview Trump alleged that he tried to send 10,000 troops to protect the Capitol during the riot but that Pelosi overruled him because she “didn’t want any soldiers.”
“Yeah… none of that’s true,” said Kimmel. “In fact, what was documented, according to Trump’s former defense secretary, was that he wanted troops not to protect the Capitol but to protect his supporters.”
Kimmel is correct—Trump did not order 10,000 troops to protect the Capitol, but instead, according to the congressional testimony of then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, Trump told him to send troops to protect those raiding the Capitol.
Miller testified that Trump told him, “Do whatever is necessary to protect demonstrators that were executing their constitutionally protected rights.”
In addition to the bogus Pelosi/troops claim, Trump claimed during the talk that only one person—a “young, fine woman” [Ashli Babbitt]—died due to the Jan. 6 riot. (The Justice Department did not pursue charges in the death of Babbitt, who was shot while attempting to break into the Speaker’s Lobby during the riot, according to its report.)
“Four people died as a result of the riot on Jan. 6,” clarified Kimmel, adding, “another five Capitol police officers lost their lives in the days that followed. I know it’s hard to count on those little orange nubs you call fingers, but that’s not one death—that’s nine.”
