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.”
While a number of officials, including District of Columbia Attorney General Karl Racine, have said they’re looking into the role Trump played in the riot, none have indicated so far that the president would be an accessory to the deaths that occurred as rioters tried to block the certification of incoming US president Joe Biden's Electoral College win.
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Trump White House officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the speaker’s insinuation that Trump’s words led to deaths at the Capitol.
Pelosi’s comments represent the strongest language yet used by Democrats over Trump’s role in the riots.
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“The mob was fed lies,” McConnell said. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like. But we pressed on.”
House Democrats, who were joined by 10 Republicans, voted to impeach Trump last week on a charge of incitement of insurrection. Pelosi has not said when the article of impeachment will be sent to the Senate to initiate a trial, but indicated in her interview that it would be “soon”.
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