Former President Donald Trump declared in all seriousness on Thursday night that there was “zero threat” during the deadly Jan. 6 insurrectionist riot at the U.S. Capitol, bizarrely asserting that the rioters had “great relationships” and were “kissing the police” throughout the siege.
Calling into pro-Trump Fox News host Laura Ingraham’s show to ostensibly react to President Joe Biden’s first press conference, the ex-president instead spent much of his time fixated on his own personal grievances, such as peddling the Big Lie that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him.
At one point in the interview, however, Ingraham asked Trump about the Department of Homeland Security cracking down on domestic violent extremism and whether he was concerned that the “DHS is going after people who may be your supporters.”
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The former president immediately invoked leftist organizations Black Lives Matter and antifa, complaining that “they don’t go after those people” who “burn down our cities” while simultaneously defending right-wing extremists.
“But they go after people, I guess you would call them lean toward the right, and they wave American flags—in many cases, they are waving the American flag—and they love our country,” Trump exclaimed. “And to those people, they are arresting them by the dozens but they don’t go after antifa, who kill people by the way.”
Ingraham then brought up the large National Guard presence that has surrounded the Capitol since the seditious riot that left five people dead— including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick—and over 100 police officers injured.
“Are you concerned that the U.S. Capitol after January 6th has become a fortress?” Ingraham asked the ex-president. “Protecting the Capitol from the people who are supposed to actually be the ones in charge here, not the people who are sitting in the Capitol and surrounding themselves by razor wire.”
Trump, who was impeached for inciting the MAGA mob to storm the Capitol and prevent Congress from certifying Joe Biden’s election, called the response to the riots “disgraceful” before going into full gaslighting mode.
“It was zero threat, right from the start, it was zero threat,” Trump, who has been served with multiple civil suits related to the riot, bellowed.
“Look, they went in, they shouldn’t have done it,” he continued. “Some of them went in, and they are hugging and kissing the police and the guards, you know, they had great relationships, and a lot of the people were waved in, and then they walked in and they walked out.”
Referencing the hundreds of arrests and charges that have resulted from the Capitol insurrection, Trump did concede that “some things should happen to them” before once again shifting his attention back to his favorite bogeymen—antifa and BLM.
“But when I look at antifa, in Washington even, with what they did to Washington and what they did to other locations and the destruction, and frankly, the killing and the beating up of people, and nothing happens to them whatsoever, why aren’t they going after antifa?!” Trump raged.
Ingraham, for her part, tried to do a bit of clean-up for the former president, helpfully leading Trump along the way.
“But you would say that people who commit crimes, regardless of what their political affiliations are, should be prosecuted,” she said. “Your complaint is that the individuals committing the crimes in Portland and Minneapolis, et cetera, are not being prosecuted. I want to clarify that, Mr. President.”
Trump, getting the hint, replied: “Absolutely! What you said is exactly right. I hope that is what I said, too.”
