Audience members at a town hall glared as former President Donald Trump described Jan. 6 as a “day of love” and tried to downplay the severity of the violent confrontation at the Capitol.
Questioner Ramiro González, a Republican construction worker from Tampa, said he wanted to give Trump “the opportunity to try to win back my vote,” and then issued a series of forceful statements during the Univision town hall this week.
Trump’s response sparked an audience response that has since went viralas he said “nothing wrong was done” that day, and one site said the audience was “visibly showing their displeasure” and garnered nearly 3 million views.
Kamala Harris’ campaign later published about it on
The questioner thanked Trump and said he would appreciate a response, after asking him about “his action and perhaps his inaction during his presidency and the last several years.”
“You waited so long to act while your supporters attacked the Capitol,” González asked him. He said he thought the public was “deceived” about the coronavirus, as well as “the people in his administration who don’t support him.”
Former President Donald Trump faced a tough question from a Republican who wanted to know why he should support Trump after he “waited so long to take action” on January 6.
“Why would I want to support you? … your own vice president doesn’t want to support you,” he said.
Trump issued a lengthy response as his interlocutor looked on. A quick camera cut during their response showed a series of female voters staring at them. One woman broke her head when Trump spoke about the toll of January 6.
Trump began his response by gently admonishing Vice President Mike Pence, who rejected his calls to reject votes certified by states Trump lost. Pence has said he will not vote for Trump and has refused to endorse him.
“The vice president, I don’t agree with him on what he did,” Trump said. ‘YO totally disagree with him on what he did. Very importantly, hundreds of thousands of people came to Washington. “They didn’t come for me, they came for the election,” Trump said.
‘They thought the elections had been rigged and that’s why they came. Some of those people went down to the Capitol. I said, “peacefully and patriotically, that nothing wrong was done, at all,” he continued.
A camera watching the audience captured the stern reactions as Trump gave his response.
Trump said “nothing wrong was done”
The Justice Department says 140 law enforcement officers were injured that day in the melee.
Kamala Harris’ campaign posted an image of a woman’s seemingly skeptical reaction during Trump’s response on January 6.
‘Nothing wrong has been done. And measures were taken, strong measures. “Ashli Babbitt was killed, no one died,” Trump said, as a camera panned the audience.
A woman in a striped shirt grimaced and shook her head at that comment, while two other women looked forward.
‘There were no weapons there, we had no weapons. The others had weapons, but we didn’t have weapons. When I say ‘we’, these are people who walked, this was a small percentage of the total.”
‘This was a small percentage of the total, which no one sees and no one shows. But that was a day of love from the position of millions: it’s like hundreds of thousands,’ Trump said. He called it “the largest group I’ve ever talked to before.”
He The Department of Justice has said That day, 140 officers were attacked, about 80 from the Capitol Police and 60 from the DC Metropolitan Police.
More than 1,265 defendants have been charged.
The issue of deaths is complicated.
Officers shot Ashli Babbitt, a Trump supporter, when she was steps from the House chamber as rioters tried to breach a closed door. US Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was attacked by the mob, died on January 7. Two police officers committed suicide immediately afterwards.
Roseanne Boyland’s death may have been caused by a stampede, Kevin Greeson died of a heart attack, and Trump supporter Benjamin Philips died of a stroke.
The viral moment is just the latest periodic moments around January 6 that were inserted into the campaign, including during the vice presidential debate, when Senator JD Vance refused to say that President Biden won the election.
During a Bloomberg News interview this week, Trump responded when his interviewer told him that the end of his term was the “worst transfer of power” in a long time.
‘I left the morning I was supposed to leave. “I went to Florida and you had a very peaceful move,” Trump said.
‘And some people went to the Capitol and a lot of strange things happened there. “There are a lot of strange things when the police wave people into the Capitol,” he added.