Trump’s Continued Support of Jan. 6 Rioters Shows He’s a ‘Public Safety Threat to the American People’, Says Rep. Jason Crow

By Sarah RumpfSep 16th, 2021, 8:20 pm
 

Former President Donald Trump’s continued encouragement and support for those involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol showed that he was not just a “threat to democracy,” but also a “public safety threat to the American people,” Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) told CNN’s Erin Burnett on Thursday evening.

Crow was on Burnett’s program to discuss the upcoming Sept. 18 rally being organized to support those arrested in connection with the Jan. 6 riot. Burnett opened the segment by mentioning an unclassified intelligence briefing from the Department of Homeland Security that warned of online chatter threatening violence before and during the rally, as well as a threat to kidnap a member of Congress.

Trump was also “endorsing the message behind the rally,” said Burnett, quoting the statement the former president released earlier in the day.

“Our hearts and minds are with the people being persecuted so unfairly relating to the January 6th protest,” said Trump in the statement.

“His words have great power to the people who would attend a rally like this,” Burnett remarked, asking Crow what his biggest concerns were about Trump’s comments.

“It shows that Donald Trump remains not just a threat to our democracy,” replied Crow, “but an actual physical security threat, a public safety threat to the American people.”

“He has made himself the head of a domestic violent extremist movement that tried to derail our democracy on January 6 and ended up in the deaths of a police officer, 140 others beaten,” said Crow, who served as one of the House impeachment managers during Trump’s second impeachment. “This is not over. They continue to fan the flames of it and incite violence of this nature.”

Trump’s comments also showed how “inaction and silence [have] a cost,” Crow added. “When you have Republican leadership and Republican members of Congress and others who remain silent in the face of this, that sends a very strong message that it’s okay, and that has a cost to our democracy.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.

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Sarah Rumpf - Contributing Editor

Sarah Rumpf joined Mediaite in 2020 and is a Contributing Editor focusing on politics, law, and the media. A native Floridian, Sarah attended the University of Florida, graduating with a double major in Political Science and German, and earned her Juris Doctor, cum laude, from the UF College of Law. Sarah's writing has been featured at National Review, The Daily Beast, Reason, Law & Crime, Independent Journal Review, Texas Monthly, The Capitolist, Breitbart Texas, Townhall, RedState, The Orlando Sentinel, and the Austin-American Statesman, and her political commentary has led to appearances on the BBC, MSNBC, NewsNation, Fox 35 Orlando, Fox 7 Austin, The Young Turks, The Dean Obeidallah Show, and other television, radio, and podcast programs across the globe.