Trump Attempts Damage Control in New Video but Doesn’t Address Impeachment
President Trump made a return to social media on Wednesday with a pre-taped statement published on the White House’s YouTube account — but he didn’t address the fact that he was impeached for the second time by the House of Representatives just hours earlier.
During his roughly five-minute remarks, Trump — who was suspended for at least seven days on his personal YouTube account — said he “unequivocally” condemned the “violence and vandalism” carried out by the rioters and said that “no true supporter” of his “could ever endorse political violence.”
“If you do any of these things, you are not supporting our movement. You are attacking it,” Trump said in the video. He did not address his own role in inciting the riot.
*Also Read:* House Impeaches Trump a Second Time, With 10 Republican Votes
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump was impeached for “inciting violence against the Government of the United States” by “willfully” making statements at a rally that “encouraged — and foreseeably resulted in — lawless action at the Capitol” and disseminating false and baseless claims of election fraud in the months leading up to the Capitol siege. The 232-197 vote passed in the House, with 10 House Republicans joining Democrats to vote in favor of impeachment.
A Senate trial will take place next, but it is not likely to occur before Trump’s term is over next Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Trump did not take responsibility for his role in inciting the riot and said that his remarks at the rally preceding the insurrection — in which he told his supporters, “If you don’t fight like hell you’re not going to have a country anymore” and “you’ll never take back our country with weakness” — were “totally appropriate.”
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