Maggie Haberman Says Aides Are Prepping Trump for Jan. 6 Questions in First Debate: ‘What They’re Hoping He Is Going to Say Is…’
CNN commentator Maggie Haberman shed some light on former President Donald Trump’s preparations for next week’s first debate with President Joe Biden.
In particular, Haberman said aides have been battening down the hatches for questions related to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, which Trump incited and did nothing about once it was underway. The former president has gone so far as to suggest that he will pardon those who participated in the ransacking of the Capitol while Congress tried to certify Biden’s 2020 election victory. Trump falsely claims the election was rigged.
“Trump is taking this more seriously than people allow publicly,” Haberman told Anderson Cooper on Wednesday’s AC360. “In public, his aides often downplay the prep that he does.”
She added that Trump has not been engaging in mock debates, but has had policy briefings with various Republican lawmakers, including Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Eric Schmitt (R-MO).
Haberman said that aides have focused “very specifically” on how Trump will respond to questions about Jan. 6 in next week’s CNN debate moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
“Will he try to be vague and not be pinned down on whether he’ll pardon them all?” Cooper asked about Trump’s comments about the Capitol riot defendants.
“On that one, what they are hoping he is going to say – and again, who knows what he’ll actually say – but what they’re hoping he’s going to say is, some version of, ‘It depends on the case.’ He has left it much broader in the past and said he’ll likely pardon people again across the board. [I] think that they’re gonna try to have him point to specifics, including people who were arrested where they were not that close to the building.”
Trump is under federal indictment for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election, which culminated in the Capitol. The former president has also been charged in Georgia for trying to subvert the election results in that state, which he lost.
Watch above via CNN.
