Former President Donald Trump defended some of his supporters who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, saying they posed “zero threat” to the lawmakers who had assembled there to certify the Electoral College vote that confirmed Joe Biden's victory in the presidential race.
Trump complained to Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham that law enforcement was “persecuting” the Capitol rioters, while “nothing happens” to left-wing protesters.
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"They're persecuting a lot of those people, and some of them should be -- some things should happen to them," he said.
"But when I look at Antifa in Washington, even, what they did to Washington and what they did to other locations and the destruction, and frankly, the killing and the beating up of people, and nothing happens to them whatsoever.
"Why aren't they going after Antifa?"
Trump did acknowledge that those who stormed the Capitol “went in and they shouldn’t have done it.”
"It was zero threat, right from the start, it was zero threat," he said.
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"Some of them went in, and they are hugging and kissing the police and the guards, you know, they had great relationships.
"A lot of the people were waved in, and then they walked in and they walked out."
More than 300 people have been charged in connection to the riot. Authorities have said they believe at least 100 more could face charges.
The January 6 riot followed a fiery Trump rally outside the White House, in which he urged a mob of his supporters to “fight like hell” for him at the Capitol.
A week later, the House impeached Trump for the second time, but the Senate eventually acquitted him on the charge of inciting the attack.
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