In her first interview since leaving the White House a few days ahead of former President Donald Trump, former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told Fox News host Harris Faulkner that she never could imagined that her former boss’ “Stop the Steal” rally on Jan. 6 would turn into a violent insurrectionist attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“I think at the beginning of the day, before everyone went to the rally, everyone was expecting peace,” McEnany claimed. “We had been to hundreds of rallies—I’ve probably been to hundreds at this point, certainly many dozens—and they were nothing but peaceful events, and we expected that day to be the same.”
In fact, Trump’s campaign rallies not only had a history of turning violent but a 2018 report also found that violent assaults routinely increased in cities where he held those rallies. On top of that, both the FBI and National Guard warned of potential violence ahead of the Jan. 6 event.
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And yet, McEnany added, “as those events transpired, it was disbelief, shock, somber, sad, horrified by the violence, and it was a very hard, difficult day in the White House, there is no doubt.” Other news reports have stated that Trump was “pleased” as he watched his supporters storm the building and was “loving watching the Capitol mob.”
Read it at Fox News