RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel Says ‘A Lot of Self-Reflection’ Is Needed After Riots, Dodges When Asked About Trump

RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said on Face the Nation Sunday that “there’s a lot of self-reflection” that needs to happen following the violent riots at the Capitol on January 6th.

McDaniel spoke with CBS’ Margaret Brennan hours before former President Donald Trump’s scheduled speech at CPAC.

Brennan brought up the riots — which were spurred on by Trump’s weeks of false claims about the election — and asked, “How damaging were the events of January 6th to your party?”

“They were damaging to our country,” McDaniel said. “It was horrific what happened January 6th, there is no American — Republican or Democrats — who looks at that and sees our Capitol attacked and feels good. And I think there’s a lot of self-reflection that has to go on across the whole country.”

Brennan then asked, “Has the president done some self-reflection?”

“I’m going to talk about me, ’cause I’m not going to speak for somebody else,” McDaniel said.

Brennan pointed out McDaniel’s previous comments on Trump. Per the Washington Post at the time:

“I don’t think he intended to incite violence on the Capitol,” she said in the interview.

The furthest she will go is saying that Trump could have done more to tamp down the violence once it began. “He did not meet the moment,” she said.

McDaniel responded to Brennan by talking about how the GOP has been “more vocal in denouncing groups like QAnon,” bringing up how there was a bomb placed outside the RNC. She said Republicans “will denounce extreme elements that pretend to be Republican and say we do not want you in our party,” adding Democrats should do the same.

You can watch above, via CBS.