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Jun 19, 2022 - Politics & Policy

Trump lashing out at Jan. 6 panel is "essentially saying 'Yeah I did it'": Raskin

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Former President Donald Trump's vitriol toward the Jan. 6 select committee and former Vice President Mike Pence is tantamount to a confession about his role in the Capitol riot, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) told NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday.

Driving the news: Thursday's Jan. 6 select committee hearing unveiled testimony from numerous Trump administration aides about a "heated" phone call in which Trump berated Pence for refusing to overturn the election, with one former White House assistant testifying that he recalled Trump calling Pence a "wimp."

  • Trump pushed back against the allegations at a gathering of Christian conservatives on Friday, saying he never called Pence a "wimp" but lamenting that "Mike did not have the courage to act."
  • Trump also hit back at the select committee, accusing it of "knowingly spinning a fake and phony narrative."

What they're saying: "Yeah, he's essentially saying, 'Yeah I did it and I’ll do it again,'" Raskin replied when asked by host Chuck Todd whether Trump was in fact confessing by lashing out at the committee.

  • "Which is what we have been contending all along. That if you allow impunity for attempts at unconstitutional seizures of power — which is what a coup is — then you're inviting it again in the future," Raskin added.
  • "And to be a strong, self-sustaining, self-respecting democracy, we can't allow people to decide that they are above the law and that they are more important than our constitutional processes."

The big picture: The committee is using the hearings to make a comprehensive case for Trump's culpability in the Capitol riot as the Justice Department watches closely.

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