Former Trump White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows writes in his new book the same lame minimizing of the Capitol riot that Republicans have been pushing for almost eleven months now, claiming just a “handful of fanatics” were responsible for the chaos, and that Trump himself was “speaking metaphorically” when he told the crowd “we’re going to walk down, and I’ll be there with you” toward the Capitol to disrupt the electoral college vote count session, the Guardian reports.
Meadows wrote that it was an “ad-lib” and that Trump “knew as well as anyone that we couldn’t organize a trip like that on such short notice” yet he said it “metaphorically” to the crowd anyway, using “we” at least four different times in the speech. Complaining that no one wants to focus on the Trump fans present who didn’t get arrested for breaching the Capitol or assaulting police officers, Meadows writes “No one would [focus] on the actions of… those supporters of President Trump who came [to Washington on 6 January] without hate in their hearts or any bad intentions. Instead, they would laser in on the actions of a handful of fanatics across town.”
As of December 2, 2021, more than 700 Trump fans have been charged with crimes committed during the January 6th Capitol riot and the FBI is still seeking information on dozens more.