Former President Donald Trump called Jan. 6, 2021, the day of a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol, a “day of love” during a Univision town hall Wednesday.
“That was a day of love,” he told concerned voter Ramiro González during the event.
González said that he used to be a registered Republican. However, Trump’s behavior during the riot troubled him.
“I want to give you the opportunity to try to win back my vote. OK?” he said. “Your – I'm going to say – action and maybe inaction during your presidency, and the last few years, sort of, was a little disturbing to me. What happened Jan. 6 and the fact that, you know, you waited so long to take action while your supporters were attacking the Capitol... I’m curious how people so close to you and your administration no longer want to support you, so why would I want to support you?”
During the riot, thousands of people stormed the Capitol in attempt to prevent the certification of votes for current President Joe Biden. They defaced property, chanted dangerous threats and brandished weapons.
“Nothing done wrong, at all, nothing done wrong,” said Trump, the current GOP candidate for president, of the riot in his response to González. “And action was taken, strong action. Ashli Babbitt was killed, nobody was killed.”
That very last part is not true.
Ashli Babbitt, one of the rioters, was fatally shot by a law enforcement officer in the chaos. United States Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick was also killed at the scene – his killers were sentenced to prison time last January. At least four officers also died by suicide after the riot, including MPD officer Jeffrey Smith, who was left in severe pain after a metal pole thrown by rioters fell on him. In March 2022, the D.C. Police and Firefighters’ Retirement and Relief Board determined Smith’s death should be classified as a line of duty death.
According to CBS News, Trump’s portrayal of Jan. 6 actually “bears little resemblance to the violent scene,” that played out that day.
He told the town hall audience of Latino voters that the rioters did not come to Washington D.C. because of him. Instead, he said they came because they believed the election was rigged.
However, Trump himself had been making baseless claims that the election was fraudulent, and even brought them up on the day of the riot at a rally he held in D.C., not far from the Capitol. Two weeks before the event, he posted on X (then Twitter) about a “big protest” expected in D.C.
Even though Trump and his team have never been able to provide evidence to back up the election fraud claims, his camp continues to make them. His current running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, said this Wednesday that “by the words I would use,” former President Donald Trump did not lose the 2020 election, per an Audacy report.
Trump also took time to criticize his former VP, Mike Pence, in his answer Wednesday. He said that he “totally disagreed with him on what he did,” which CBS noted was an apparent reference to Pence’s refusal to block the certification of votes for Biden.
As vice president, Pence did not have authority to do so. Still, the rioters were furious at him – some chanted “hang Mike Pence” and others even created makeshift gallows.
“There were no guns down there, we didn’t have guns,” Trump said Wednesday. “The others had guns, but we didn’t have guns.”
CBS said that statement is also false. It said court documents, photos and videos show that several of the rioters had firearms.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to Trump’s White House, said earlier this year that Trump was aware that people in the Capitol riot crowd had weapons, Audacy reported.
“It’s really imperative that we keep speaking about the truth, because the facts are the facts and Donald Trump has tried to smear those with his deceit and his lies,” Hutchinson said. She also said that Trump is “committed to unleashing political violence.”
As of this week, more than 1,000 people have been convicted in the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, said CBS. Hundreds have been charged with assaulting, resisting or impeding officers or employees, including over 100 people charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer. There are around 350 trials still pending.
“That was a day of love from the standpoint of the millions, it’s like hundreds of thousands, it could have been the largest group I’ve ever spoken before. They asked me to speak, I went, and I spoke. And I used the term peacefully and patriotically,” Trump said of Jan. 6 during the Wednesday town hall.
While Trump did urge his supporters to “stay peaceful” in a social media post on Jan. 6, CBS noted that he did not tell them to stand down. Back then, he also used the word “love” when talking about the rioters.
“We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it – especially the other side,” he said in a Jan. 6 video. He went on to say: “We have to have peace. So, go home. We love you, you’re very special.”
In his comments regarding the riot this Wednesday, Trump claimed that he believes the 2020 election was disputed “by the vast majority of people,” another false claim, according to polling data.
For example, a Data for Progress survey from January showed that 58% of likely voters believe the election was fairly won by Biden. That broke down to 93% of Democrats, 54% of independents. At the same time 63% of Republicans believed that Trump won the election. A Washington Post-University of Maryland poll from January found that a third of the country thought Biden’s election was illegitimate and that 56% of voters Trump is “probably” or “definitely” guilty of a criminal conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election results.
“Three years ago, the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol brought immediate, overwhelming and bipartisan disapproval from Americans, and for the most part, it still does,” CBS News reported earlier this year. Although the outlet said that more Republicans have moved to the “approve” side over the past years, most people still disapprove of the rioters actions (22% to 78% as of this January).
In response to Trump’s comments during the town hall, Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris said: “Donald Trump incited an attack on our nation’s democracy because he didn’t like the outcome of the election. If January 6 was a bridge too far, there is a place for you in our campaign.”