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Trump says some Capitol rioters posed ‘zero threat’, claims they were ‘hugging and kissing the police’

The January 6 violent protest claimed the lives of five people, including a police officer

Former President Donald Trump is reportedly still not convinced that the Capitol rioters were a threat to Congress who assembled inside the building on January 6 to certify the win of then-presidential candidate Joe Biden. On Thursday, March 25, the Republican leader claimed that some of the protesters posed “zero threat” despite the fact that the fateful event claimed the lives of five people, including a police officer.

Trump also told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that the Capitol rioters, who were responsible for the insurrection at the government building while chanting “Hang Mike Pence”, were mistreated by law enforcement while “nothing happens” to left-wing demonstrators.

However, he said that some Capitol protesters “went in and they shouldn't have done it.” The 74-year-old added, “Some of them went in and they're, they're 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.”

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Over 300 have been charged for the deadly riot in early January. Following the incident, Trump was also impeached by the House for the second time, but he was eventually acquitted on the charge of inciting the violence. The former leader had reportedly told his followers to “fight like hell” for him at the Capitol before the riot.

Several people on Twitter reacted to Trump's recent statement on Fox News as one user tweeted, "I hope President Biden will shun Faux News reporters for as long as they continue pushing the BIg Lie and giving 45 a platform to do it." Another user wrote, "'They walked in and they walked out...'?!?! They just WALKED in to the US Capitol? Oh really? 'They were hugging and kissing the guards'," another user added.

Meanwhile, another report stated that several alleged Capitol rioters put their campaign cash on Trump. According to campaign finance records, many people charged for the January 6 insurrection invested their money on Trump’s re-election campaign. Even after he lost his bid in November 2020, money was reportedly not a problem for him to challenge the election result as several of his supporters sent the cash.

An analysis done by USA TODAY of Federal Elections Commissions records for 2019 and 2020 claimed that 75 out of the 307 people facing charges related to the riot through March 18 made political donations. Over 98 percent of the cash was sent to Republican candidates and committees and around 87 percent of it was given to Trump.

Speaking of the donated money, Costas Panagopoulos, professor of political science at Northeastern University, said, “It’s yet another indicator of exactly who these rioters were – they were clearly rioters who were supportive of Republican voices in Congress and Donald Trump in particular. With each new data point, the narrative that the Capitol rioters were, as a group, anything but mainly Trump and GOP supporters is crumbling.”

Some other revelations made by USA TODAY after the study said, “Accused rioters gave at least $39,734, with the vast majority of that - $24,822 – going to Trump. By contrast, donations to Democratic candidates or campaigns accounted for at least $650, or less than 2% of the total. Even that is skewed by one contributor who gave more than $500 to Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang”

“Money continued to roll in after the Nov. 3 election, with more than $10,600 – or 25% - of all contributions coming as Trump fundraised off his false claims that he had won the election and needed to fight it in court. At least 40 of the accused rioters made contributions after the election,” the study added.