ALAMO, Texas (AP) – President Donald Trump on Tuesday took no responsibility for his role in promoting a violent US insurgency last week, despite his comments, encouraging supporters to go to the Capitol and praise them. while the assault was still going on.
“People thought what I said was completely right,” Trump said.
He made the remarks during his first public appearance since the Capitol siege, which took place as lawmakers scrutinized Electoral College votes confirming the victory of President-elect Joe Biden. Trump arrived in Texas on Tuesday to trumpet the campaign against illegal immigration, in an attempt to burn his legacy, with eight days left in office, as lawmakers in Congress appeared to accuse him of this week for the second time.
In Alamo, Texas, a city in the Rio Grande Valley near the US-Mexico border – the 450-mile site of the border wall his administration is building, Trump rejected Democratic appeals to his cabinet to declare him incompetent. using the 25th amendment.
“The 25th Amendment has zero risk for me, but it will come back to haunt Joe Biden and the Biden administration,” Trump said. “As you express your expression, pay attention to what you want.”
Anger in the halls of Congress sent lawmakers from both parties and Trump’s vice president into hiding, while crowds demanded the lynching of Mike Pence for his role in overseeing the vote count. The scene also undermined the hallmark of the republic – the peaceful transition of power. At least five people have been killed, including a Capitol police officer.
“It’s time for peace and calm,” Trump said Tuesday, less than a week after he ran into the crowd that descended on the Capitol. He added: “Law enforcement is the foundation of the MAGA agenda,” referring to his campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
In the days leading up to the Jan. 6 certification vote, Trump encouraged his supporters to come down to Washington, DC, promising a “wild” rally in support of his unfounded allegations of election fraud, despite his administration’s contrary findings. Speaking for more than an hour to a crowd on the Ellipse, Trump encouraged supporters to “fight like hell” and suggested that Republican lawmakers would need “more courage not to step up” and overturn voters to grant another term of office. He also suggested that he join them in marching on the Capitol.
By the time Trump was over, thousands of his supporters were already heading to the Capitol, where lawmakers had gathered to count the election votes. While the insurgents were still in the building and lawmakers sheltered in safe places, Trump, at the urging of the aides who were shocked by the violence, released a video that seems to excuse the events, saying about the insurgents: “We love you. You are very special. Go home.”
Speaking Tuesday, Trump said the “real issue” was not his rhetoric, but the rhetoric Democrats used to describe the Black Lives Matter protests and violence and the Seattle and Portland violence this summer.
“Everyone in the ‘t’ thought it was completely appropriate,” Trump said of his own comments.
Trump angrily lashed out at lawmakers for his second removal this week, saying: “It causes great anger and division and much greater pain than most people will understand, which is very dangerous for the United States, especially at this very fragile time. . ”
Alamo is named after the San Antonio mission, where a small group of Texan independent fighters defended Mexican forces during a 13-day siege. Most died, but the mission became a symbol of resistance for the Texans, who eventually defeated the Mexican military.
Trump’s visit there – no doubt a symbol of the president’s defiance – comes as he spends the last days of his presidency isolated, injured and looking at the prospect of a second removal.
As Trump traveled, Pence assured the nation’s rulers that the outgoing administration was working “diligently” with the team of President-elect Joe Biden. He thanked the governors for their leadership on the coronavirus and promised them a “perfect transition.”
Trump’s aides urged the president to spend his remaining days in office, highlighting what they see as his presidency’s major accomplishments: a massive tax cut, his efforts to repeal federal regulations, and the transformation of federal courts with the appointment of judges. conservatives. But Trump has been fueled by baseless allegations of fraud and election conspiracies.
In Texas, he remarked, stressing his administration’s efforts to reduce illegal immigration and the progress made in his 2016 campaign promise: building a “big, beautiful wall” along the southern border – an imposing concrete and steel structure. armed. But, over time, Trump called for changes that were largely rejected: he wanted it painted black to burn the hands of those who touched him; he wanted her adorned with deadly spikes; she even wanted to surround him with a ditch full of alligator. While promising to be funded by Mexico, American taxpayers ended up paying the bill.
Finally, his administration oversaw the construction of about 450 miles of border wall construction – probably reaching 475 miles by the day of the inauguration. The vast majority of that wall replaces smaller barriers that already existed, although the new wall is considerably more difficult to bypass.
For the past four years, Trump and his administration have taken extreme – and often illegal – steps to try to reduce both illegal and legal immigration. Their efforts were aided in his final year by the coronavirus pandemic, which halted international travel. The number of people who have stopped trying to cross the southern border illegally has increased in recent months. Figures for December show almost 74,000 meetings at the southwestern border, up 3% from November and up 81% from a year earlier.
Dozens of Trump supporters gathered a few hours before his visit to the Rio Grande Valley, near Harlingen Airport, Texas, where he was scheduled to land. They planned to organize a caravan of flag-bearing vehicles to support the president and far-right causes, such as the QAnon conspiracy theory.
Trump has warned that Biden’s reversal of his policies will lead to a “wave of illegal immigration.” He added: “To put an end to these policies is to knowingly put America in very serious danger.”
Biden said he would stop building the border wall and taking executive action where possible to reverse some of Trump’s restrictions on legal immigration and asylum seekers. But Biden and his aides acknowledged the possibility of a new border crisis if acted too quickly, and Biden said it could take six months for his administration to secure funding and implement the infrastructure needed to ease Trump-era restrictions. .
Beyond promoting the wall, Trump quickly listed his massive border changes, which aim to discourage asylum. He cited his “Stay in Mexico” policy, according to which more than 65,000 asylum seekers had to wait in Mexico for hearings in the US immigration court in January 2019 and agreements were reached with Central American countries to provide asylum. asylum seekers. protection in the United States.
He credited his wall for a reduction in illegal border crossings from a maximum of 13 years in 2019, but the Government Accountability Office found that the administration has no measures to correlate the decrease in illegal crossing points with the construction of walls. .
Trump has falsely said he inherited the “open borders” from his predecessor, Barack Obama. He leaves office with about the same number of border patrol agents as when he started, despite a commitment to add 5,000, and the monthly number of migrants stopped at the border far exceeds the totals for much of Obama’s term.
___ Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant of Harlingen, Texas; Ben Fox and Alexandra Jaffe in Washington; Alan Suderman in Richmond, Virginia; and Elliot Spagat of San Diego contributed to this report.