Politico | Pelosi says Trump could be accessory to murder after Capitol riot
- Pelosi’s comments represent the strongest language used by Democrats over Trump’s role in the Capitol riot
- House Democrats and 10 Republicans voted to impeach Trump last week on a charge of incitement of insurrection
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Evan Semones on politico.com on January 20, 2021.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Donald Trump could be an accessory to murder after this month’s deadly riots at the US Capitol.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Joy Reid that aired Tuesday night, Pelosi repeatedly decried the Trump’s role in inciting a violent insurrection on January 6 that claimed the lives of five people, including a US Capitol Police officer.
“Presidents’ words are important. They weigh a tonne,” Pelosi said about Trump, who continuously stoked false claims of widespread election fraud on Twitter and encouraged supporters to march to the Capitol in a fiery speech given at a “Save America” rally not long before rioters stormed the building. “And they used his words to come here.”
Pelosi went a step further and said that if it were proven that some members of Congress collaborated with members of the group that attacked the Capitol, they – as well as Trump – would be accessories to crimes committed during the insurrection.
“And the crime, in some cases, was murder,” Pelosi said. “And this president is an accessory to that crime because he instigated that insurrection that caused those deaths and this destruction.”