Former President Donald Trump was criticized by TV host Joe Scarborough and people on social media for calling jailed Capitol rioters hostages.
Scarborough, a former Republican congressman who co-hosts MSNBC's Morning Joe,called the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, pure evil and said that Trump comparing them to hostages is deeply offensive.
On January 6, 2021, at least 2,000 people broke into the Capitol in Washington, D.C., after thousands of Trump supporters rallied outside to protest the 2020 election results after Trump had claimed the election was stolen. More than 1,000 people have been charged, according to the latest Department of Justice data, including more than 400 accused of assaulting or impeding law enforcement, which is a felony.
Trump's remarks came as he took the stage at a campaign rally in Houston, Texas, on Thursday. Before speaking, he saluted as the song Justice for All played. The song was a rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner and is credited to a group known as the J6 Prison Choir. Included in the song is Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
"You know what that was. I call them the J6 hostages. Not prisoners. I call them the hostages," Trump said when he took the podium. "What's happened and it's a shame, you know, they did that, and they asked me whether or not I would partake and do the beautiful words and I said yes I would. And you saw the spirit, the spirit was incredible."
When asked about the backlash, Trump's team told Newsweek via email on Friday: "These people criticizing are nothing more than moronic liberals and Never Trumpers who suffer from Trump Derangement Syndrome. We can't wait to see them cry their eyes out when President Trump returns to the White House."
The Department of Justice's (DOJ) Washington, D.C., office said in early September that 623 people had been sentenced, though not all had been given jail time, while about 657 had pleaded guilty to federal charges, "many of whom faced or will face incarceration at sentencing."
"Well, and if you ask the families of the four police officers who died, they will tell you, it was those people responsible for their deaths," Scarborough said on Friday morning's show, referring to the jailed rioters.
"And there we have police officers being attacked from all sides, having their heads crushed in doors, police officers taken to the ground, having bear spray used against them. Just...this is just pure, pure evil."
Scarborough claimed that when Trump was referring to the rioters as hostages, he was comparing them to the current hostage situation in Gaza.
On October 7, Hamas, a Palestinian militant group, launched a surprise attack on Israel that killed at least 1,400 people. More than 200 were taken hostage and only a handful have returned home.
"And speaking of that, how deeply offensive that Donald Trump has now moved from calling these people, these thugs, he's gone from calling them political prisoners to now comparing them to Jews who were ripped out of their homes—and believe you me, there was no mistake—Jews ripped out of their homes on January [sic] the 7th, tortured, raped, beaten up, bludgeoned, grandmothers thrown in the back of pickup trucks and taken underground by Hamas terrorists."
Newsweek reached out to MSNBC via email for comment.
Mike Sington, a former senior executive at NBCUniversal, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "Chilling. Autocratic dictator wannabe Trump calls the convicted Jan 6 insurrectionists 'hostages.'"
Sington told Newsweek via X direct message: "I found what he said repulsive and anti-American. It was especially disgusting with all the real hostages being held now by Hamas."
Republicans against Trump shared the clip of the former president's speech on X and wrote: "Remember this when he says 'Back the blue.' and 'Law and order.'"
Newsweek reached out to Republicans Against Trump via X direct message for comment.
Update 11/3/23, 11:42 a.m. ET: This story was updated with comment from Sington.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
"pure" - Google News
November 03, 2023 at 10:38PM
https://ift.tt/J4qEeHz
Trump Condemned for Jan. 6 'Hostages' Remark: 'Pure Evil' - Newsweek
"pure" - Google News
https://ift.tt/gahV6eB
https://ift.tt/Hq5XUQR
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Trump Condemned for Jan. 6 'Hostages' Remark: 'Pure Evil' - Newsweek"
Post a Comment