Donald Trump blames Nancy Pelosi for the attack on the Capitol on January 6

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Donald Trump released a statement on Monday accusing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol that was carried out by his own supporters.

“There would have been no January 6, as we know, if Nancy Pelosi had heeded my recommendation to bring 10,000 troops, or the National Guard, to the Capitol,” the former president said. “End the Jan. 6 De-Selection Committee Witch Hunt Now. Pelosi and the Dems are responsible!

“It was literally verified to the death as completely made up,” Pelosi spokesperson Drew Hammill told HuffPost. “It never happened.”

As a reminder, thousands of Trump supporters marched on Capitol Hill, encouraged by Trump, to try to stop Congress and Vice President Mike Pence from certifying the 2020 election for Joe Biden. They had just come out of a rally with Trump, and they were acting on Trump’s big lie that the presidential election was rife with fraud and stolen for Biden.

Trump resisted calls from those around him to help stop the riot once it started. He was apparently enjoying the footage and didn’t want to tweet a message urging his followers to stop and stay peaceful. He was also less concerned about the attack than the nullification of the election results during a call with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Trump ended the day with a tweet that repeated his big lie about the election and sympathized with “great patriots.”

“These are the things and events that happen when a hallowed landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped of great patriots who have been wronged and unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love and peace. Remember this day forever!” he tweeted that day.

Meanwhile, Capitol Police evacuated Pelosi on the day of the riot because her life was in danger. Federal officials arrested a man who broke into his office, searched through papers and photographed his feet on a desk.

Republicans have long tried to blame Pelosi for the pro-Trump Capitol riot, centered on inaccurate claims that she was personally responsible for the Jan. 6 security failure.

But Pelosi isn’t in charge of the Capitol’s police and doesn’t control building security. And any responsibility she has for the Capitol is shared by the Senate Majority Leader. At the time of the attack, it was Republican Mitch McConnell, and the Republicans made no attempt to blame him. Pelosi also doesn’t have the authority to call in the National Guard.

Pelosi pushed for the creation of a bipartisan commission to study the Jan. 6 attack, including security breaches from that day. Republican leaders, however, blocked it and they continued to oppose the separate one that Pelosi established instead.

On Friday, the Republican National Committee voted to declare the attack on the Capitol and the events leading up to it, “legitimate political speech.”

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