Liz, Markey say ‘blame Trump’ for Jan. 6

U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren said former President Donald Trump should be held accountable for “inciting an armed revolution” on Jan. 6, 2021, following damning testimony provided by a former White House aide on Tuesday.

“Donald Trump, because of yesterday’s testimony, is going to stand forever in disrepute,” Markey said at a Wednesday press conference. “It is very clear, compellingly clear, that Donald Trump was, in fact, inciting an armed revolution against the Constitutionally-elected new president of the United States.

“He was doing so with full knowledge that his supporters were armed and were headed towards the Capitol with those weapons, and that he knew and did nothing to stop that insurrection,” he added.

Markey said what Trump and his “co-conspirators” in the White House did — in an effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election — was criminal, and whatever steps needed to ensure full accountability should be taken. He characterized Tuesday’s testimony as a “blistering, scalding indictment of Trump and his presidential staff.

Markey’s remarks were made in response to a reporter’s question regarding testimony from former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson, who told the House committee investigating the insurrection that Trump rebuffed his own security’s warnings about armed protesters in the Jan. 6 rally and made desperate attempts to join his supporters as they marched to the Capitol.

Hutchinson described an angry president unwilling to concede his election defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, and who refused to intervene even when the crowd was shouting for his vice president, Mike Pence, to be hanged.

Warren said the testimony proved that Trump did not care about the Constitution or the nation, but only cared for himself.

“He was willing and knowingly engaged in activities against the United States,” said Warren. “We need to call this out for the treasonous man that he is. No one wants to believe that anyone who is elected president of the United States would urge an armed insurrection against our nation.

“But yesterday’s testimony was first-hand evidence that that is exactly what Donald Trump did. He should be held accountable.”