Audio: Trump Claims Police Were ‘Hugging And Kissing’ Capitol Rioters

Take a listen to this audio recording of Donald Trump rambling in an interview with reporters Carol Leonnig and Phil Rucker – the two authors of the new book, I Alone Can Fix It: Donald J. Trump’s Catastrophic Final Year. Anderson Cooper played a full uninterrupted five minutes of the recording on his CNN show. At one point, Leonig asked ‘the former guy’ what it was he expected when he urged his followers to march up to the U.S. Capitol building on January 6 which became an unruly, violent riot. From Alternet:

“We want to understand what did you want when you said ‘go up there’?” Leonnig says in the recording, referring to Trump saying that he was going to march with the crowd to the Capitol.

“I would have said that you will show — not to go in, although they were ushered in by the police. I mean, in all fairness, the Capitol Police were ushering people in. The Capitol Police were very friendly, hugging and kissing — you don’t see that, but there’s plenty of tape on that too, the Capitol Police, that’s the way it is. I wanted — personally, what I wanted is what they wanted. They showed up. Just to show support. Because I happen to believe the election was rigged. At a level like nothing has ever been rigged before. There’s tremendous proof. There’s tremendous proof. Statistically, it wasn’t even possible that he won. I mean, things such as in Ohio, Iowa, there’s never been a loss.”

“Did you need better lawyers because they took it to court—?” asked Rucker.

“I needed better judges. The Supreme Court was afraid to take it, don’t forget,” said Trump.

Read more at Alternet.