In a televised town hall on Wednesday, former President Donald Trump dismissed criticism of his role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot and minimized the impact of the mob attack by his supporters. Speaking at a Univision event, Trump faced tough questions from a Republican voter who said he could no longer support the former president due to his response to the riot and his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The exchange highlighted ongoing divisions within the Republican Party over Trump’s leadership and his involvement in the events of January 6, where a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol in an attempt to block the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election victory. Trump’s defense of his actions that day, and his efforts to distance himself from the violence, came as he continues to seek the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.
During the town hall, a voter from Florida directly confronted Trump, stating that his actions during the Capitol riot had cost him his vote. The voter questioned why so many former high-ranking officials from Trump’s own administration, including his former Vice President Mike Pence, were no longer supporting him in the 2024 election.
Trump’s response was defiant, as he downplayed the significance of the criticism. “Only a very small portion” of former officials do not support him, Trump claimed, adding that such defections receive outsized attention because of his prominence. He dismissed their lack of support as a minor issue, saying, “But because it’s me, somebody doesn’t support they get a little publicity.”
Regarding Pence, Trump reiterated his disagreement with the former vice president’s decision not to block the certification of Biden’s victory on January 6. “The vice president, I disagree with him on what he did. I totally disagreed with him,” Trump said.
In a notable part of his response, Trump sought to distance himself from the thousands of supporters who attended the January 6 rally in Washington, D.C., and later marched to the Capitol. He rejected the notion that the crowd was there at his behest, despite a tweet he had sent weeks earlier urging his supporters to come to Washington for a “big protest” on January 6, promising that it would “be wild.”
“They didn’t come because of me,” Trump claimed during the town hall. “They came because of the election. They thought the election was a rigged election, and that’s why they came.”
Trump has long maintained the baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him, a narrative that has fueled anger among his supporters and played a central role in the Capitol riot. Many of those charged with crimes related to the riot have cited Trump’s false assertions about the election as their motivation.
Trump’s attempt to distance himself from the Capitol attack also included a revision of his role in directing the crowd to march to the Capitol. On the day of the riot, Trump spoke to a large crowd gathered outside the White House, where he encouraged them to “walk down to the Capitol” and to “cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women.”
He added at the time, “We’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them, because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.” Trump had also told his supporters to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard,” a line that he frequently cites in his defense when discussing the riot.
At the Univision event, Trump leaned into that defense again. “I said ‘peacefully and patriotically.’ Nothing done wrong at all,” he reiterated, while arguing that the violence that occurred was the result of a small minority of the crowd.
Trump’s efforts to minimize the events of January 6 and his role in the riot come as he faces multiple legal challenges related to the 2020 election. He has pleaded not guilty to charges brought against him in federal court in Washington, D.C., where he is accused of conspiring to overturn the results of the election, including by inciting the attack on the Capitol. He is also facing charges in Georgia related to alleged election interference in that state.
In a filing submitted on Wednesday, special counsel Jack Smith’s team argued that Trump had “willfully caused his supporters to obstruct and attempt to obstruct” the certification of the election results. The prosecutors maintained that Trump summoned his supporters to Washington, D.C., and directed them to march to the Capitol to pressure lawmakers into rejecting the legitimate electoral results.
Trump’s legal defense has focused heavily on his claim that he urged peaceful protest, and his lawyers have emphasized the “peacefully and patriotically” line from his January 6 speech. However, prosecutors have pointed to other parts of his speech, where Trump urged the crowd to “show strength” and to “demand that Congress do the right thing.”
In perhaps one of the most controversial moments of the town hall, Trump described January 6 as “a day of love,” downplaying the violence and chaos that unfolded at the Capitol. “There were no guns down there. We didn’t have guns. The others had guns, but we didn’t have guns,” Trump said. He further claimed that “a tiny percentage” of the crowd was responsible for the violence, which he suggested had been exaggerated.
Testimony before the House committee investigating the January 6 riot indicated that Trump was aware that many in the crowd were armed before they marched to the Capitol. Several rioters were later found to have carried firearms during the attack, and some were convicted for using or threatening violence with those weapons.
Among those who were armed during the riot were individuals like Christopher Alberts, who was sentenced to seven years in prison after being found with a firearm, and Guy Reffitt, who carried a gun and was sentenced to seven years as well. In other cases, rioters used makeshift weapons, such as flagpoles and pepper spray, to attack law enforcement officers.
Despite these facts, Trump reiterated his characterization of the crowd as mostly peaceful. “This was a tiny percentage of the overall which nobody sees and nobody, nobody shows. But that was a day of love,” he said at the town hall.
The Justice Department has charged more than 1,500 people in connection with the Capitol riot, with over 1,100 individuals convicted so far. The sentences for those involved have ranged widely, with some receiving only a few days in jail, while others have been sentenced to over 20 years in prison.
Trump, however, has repeatedly referred to the January 6 rioters as “political prisoners” and has vowed to pardon many of them if he is re-elected in 2024. He has also praised them as “unbelievable patriots” and promised to make pardoning them a priority in a potential second term.
Trump continues to campaign for the 2024 Republican nomination, his role in the January 6 Capitol riot remains a flashpoint. His base of support within the Republican Party remains strong, but some voters and former allies have distanced themselves from him due to his actions that day and his subsequent legal troubles.
At the same time, Trump’s defiance in the face of criticism has only solidified his appeal to many of his supporters, who see him as a victim of a political witch hunt. His ability to navigate these controversies while maintaining his status as the Republican front-runner will likely be a central factor in the 2024 race.
