The speaker went a step further and said that if it were proven that some members of Congress were collaborating with members of the group that attacked the Capitol, they – as well as Trump – would be a victim of crimes committed during the uprising. .
“And the crime was murder in some cases,” Pelosi said. said. “And this president is a tool in crime because he fueled the uprising that caused the deaths and this destruction.”
While a number of officials, including District Attorney General of the District of Columbia Karl Racine, said they were investigating the role Trump played in the riot, no one has so far indicated that the president would be a tool for the deaths. which took place when rioters tried. to block the election certification of President Joe Biden’s Electoral College.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the speaker’s insinuation that Trump’s words led to death at the Capitol.
Pelosi’s comments represent the strongest language ever used by Democrats about Trump’s role in the riots.
While most Republicans refused to cross over to Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has said little since the riots to defend the president, went to the Senate floor on Tuesday to place the blame entirely on Trump.
“The crowd lied,” McConnell said. “They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific process of the first branch of the federal government that they did not like. But we kept going. ‘
House Democrats, led by ten Republicans, voted last week to charge Trump with inciting riots. Pelosi did not say when the article of the indictment would be sent to the Senate to begin a trial, but indicated in her interview that it would be “soon”.