Vice President Kamala Harris and her presidential campaign are seizing on former President Donald Trump's contentions that the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack was a "day of love."
Trump's comments about the events of that day were made during a Univision town hall Wednesday after a voter asked him questions about his actions on Jan. 6, as well as his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and how some officials from his former administration have criticized him, reported The Hill.
The voter, Ramiro González, told Trump that he was allowing him to win back his vote, but Trump dismissed concerns over the Jan. 6 protests over the certification of President Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 election.
"You had hundreds of thousands of people come to Washington," he told González. "They didn’t come because of me. They came because of the election."
But "some of those people" who had come to attend a rally Trump planned for the day of the certification "went down to the Capitol peacefully and patriotically," the former president said, adding that there was "nothing done wrong at all."
"Strong action. Ashli Babbitt was killed," he said, referring to the female protester who was shot and in the Capitol. "We didn't have guns. The others had guns, but we didn't have guns. ... But that was a day of love."
Several of Harris' campaign aides pointed out a post on social media from Bulwark correspondent Andrew Egger, after Trump referred to the people who stormed the Capitol as "we" and to the Capitol Police as "others."
Harris' team also compared Trump's comments to the remarks Harris made at a rally in Pennsylvania Wednesday while speaking to Republicans backing her campaign.
"Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, and he refused to accept the will of the people and the results of a free and fair election," she said at the event. "He sent an armed mob to the United States Capitol, where they violently assaulted law enforcement officers and threatened the life of his own vice president. And he refused to engage in the peaceful transfer of power.
Trump also this week, during an interview with Bloomberg Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait, claimed there was a peaceful transfer of power in 2020, as he eventually left his office.
About NEWSMAX TV:
NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America!
- Find Newsmax channel in your home via cable and satellite systems – More Info Here
- Watch Newsmax+ on your home TV app or smartphone and watch it anywhere! Try it for FREE -- See More Here: NewsmaxPlus.com
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.