Former US President Donald Trump repeatedly refused, in an interview broadcast on Sunday, to answer questions about whether he watched the Capitol riot unfold on television, saying that he would “tell people later, at the right time”, AP reports .
Donald TrumpPhoto: Michael M. Santiago / Getty Images / Profimedia
Trump, currently the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, declined to tell NBC’s “Meet the Press” how he spent Jan. 6, 2021, as the riots began, and whether he made any phone calls in time. that his supporters stormed the seat of American democracy.
“I’m not going to tell you. I’ll tell people later at the right time,” Trump told moderator Kristen Welker, after she asked if she had spent that afternoon watching the attack on television in a White House dining room.
Trump’s former advisers said he sequestered himself in the room outside the Oval Office to watch, sometimes even rewinding and re-watching parts.
In the taped interview Thursday at Trump’s golf club in New Jersey, the former president declined to say who he called while the violence was unfolding. “Why would I tell you that?” he said.
In response to Welker pressing him about his public silence during the violence, Trump said he made “nice statements” on the day of the attack.
Trump supporters, fueled by his lies about the 2020 presidential election, stormed the building as Congress prepared to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s victory. Trump faces federal criminal charges for his efforts to overturn his defeat in that election, but no sedition-related charges.
Trump said he might consider pardoning some of the rioters charged for their actions that day.
More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 riot, and more than 600 have pleaded guilty or been convicted. “I will look at them and I could certainly, if I think it is appropriate” to pardon them, declared the former president.
Trump also said he would consider pardoning former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison for orchestrating a failed plot to keep Trump in power. Trump said Tarrio was treated “horribly,” according to the full transcript of the interview with NBC, which includes parts that did not air.
Trump faces 91 criminal charges in four cases in federal and state courts related to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, mishandling of classified documents and allegations related to alleged sums of money paid to cover up extramarital affairs . He denied any wrongdoing.
Trump was asked if he was afraid of going to jail. “No, I’m not really afraid. I don’t even think about it. I’m built a little differently, I guess,” he said.
As he pushed to annul the election, Trump relied on a gang of outside allies who undertook what federal prosecutors called a “criminal scheme” to fraudulently overturn the 2020 results, rather than relying on the advice of lawyers from the White House, who urged him to accept defeat in front of Biden.
Trump was asked in the interview why he did not listen to those lawyers. “I didn’t respect them,” Trump said. “In many cases, I didn’t respect them. But I respected others. I respected many others who said that the elections were rigged.”
Trump said he was listening to both his instincts and “various people” to guide his actions around the election results.
The NBC appearance was Trump’s first network television interview since leaving office.
Trump also said he was pleased to hear recent remarks from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who praised Trump for suggesting that, if re-elected to the White House, he would negotiate an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Putin said on Tuesday that Trump’s statements were “good” and brought “happiness”.
“Well, I like that he said that. Because that means what I’m saying is right,” Trump said on NBC.
Trump said he had a good relationship with Putin, something he has said many times before, and denied that any deal he sought in Ukraine would be a victory for Russia and allow it to keep the territories he confiscated. “It’s something that could have been negotiated,” Trump said. He continued and said: “They could have done a deal where there is less territory at this point than what Russia has already taken, to be honest.”
Trump has repeatedly refused to say whether he would support a federal abortion ban and has criticized the six-week abortion ban that was signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of Trump’s main rivals in the presidential primary.
“I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake,” Trump said.
Trump has said he doesn’t care if abortion is eventually banned at the federal level or legislated in each state. The US Supreme Court, with the support of three justices appointed by Trump, overturned the federal right to abortion last year.
“From a pure point of view, from a legal point of view, I think it’s probably better” to be handled at the state level, Trump said. “But I can live with that anyway. It’s much more important, the number of weeks is much more important.”
