Donald Trump.Photo: Steven Ferdman/WireImage
Donald Trumpcanceled a press conference he had planned to coincide with the first anniversary of thedeadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, in which he was widely expected to whitewash the events of that day and continue falsely claiming the 2020 presidential election had been stolen from him.
In astatement on Tuesday, the 75-year-old former president said he was canceling the event, to be held at his Florida club. He blamed familiar targets: “the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media.”
Instead, Trump said he would discuss the “important topics” that were planned for the scuttled press conference at a rally on Jan. 15 in Arizona.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham, speaking to Rep. Jim Banks on Monday’s episode of her show, wondered aloud: “Some things were horrific that happened and shouldn’t have happened that day. … Is it smart for President Trump to do a rally onthatparticular day, versus next week or the week before?”
Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham also cautioned against the press conference, telling Axios that hespoke to Trumpand told him, “There could be peril in doing a news conference. … Best to focus on election reform instead.”
Other reports suggest that the Trump team wasworried about a lack of television coverageof the event, due to the optics surrounding it.
A spokesperson for the former president did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment regarding the reason behind the cancellation.
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Before the rioting broke out on Jan. 6, 2021, then-President Trump had publicly pressured his own vice president, Mike Pence, to somehow use his position to overturn the 2020 election results when Congress met to ratify now-PresidentJoe Biden’s victory.
Rioters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.Samuel Corum/Getty
Speaking at a rally held shortly before the protesting at the Capitol turned violent, Trump encouraged his supporters to march to the building where Congress had convened. Though he said they should be peaceful, he also said the group should “fight like hell.”
Once at the Capitol, a swarm of Trump supporters overwhelmed law enforcement and breached the building, ultimately forcing Pence and other lawmakers to bequickly evacuated and placed under temporary lockdown.
Since leaving office, Trump has continued to falsely claim the election was rigged against him — despite any evidence — even as a bipartisan committee of lawmakers investigatesthe role he and those close to himhad in the events of that day.
source: people.com
