House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) claims “there’s a lot of blame to go around” for the events that took place at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
The host of ABC’s “This Week,” Jonathan Karl, asked Scalise if he questioned Trump during his visit with him at Mar-a-Lago about his role in the riots and whether he takes responsibility for it.
“I was in Florida doing some fundraising throughout a number of parts of Florida, ended up at Mar-a-Lago, and the president reached out, and we visited,” Scalise said.
He continued, “I hadn’t seen him since he had left the White House, and it was actually good to catch up with him. I noticed he was a lot more relaxed than his four years in the White House… It was a conversation more about how he’s doing now and what he’s planning on doing and how his family is doing.”
Watch his response below:
Rep. Steve Scalise evades questions on Pres. Trump's responsibility in inciting the Jan. 6 siege on the Capitol: "Certainly there's a lot of blame to go around."@jonkarl: "I'm asking about Donald Trump's role in this."
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) February 21, 2021
Scalise: "President Trump has denounced what happened." pic.twitter.com/BSCttCKckR
Karl pressed Scalise on whether he agrees with House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) that Trump needs to take responsibility for what happened at the Capitol.
“There’s a lot of blame to go around but at the end of the day, the people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 — it was a disgrace, and they need to be held accountable,” Scalise explained.
Karl suggested Scalise was not saying Trump bears responsibility.
“Look, President Trump has denounced what happened, and I think everyone should have been unequivocal in their denouncing of what happened not only on Jan. 6 but during the summer,” Scalise said seemingly referencing racial justice protests that broke out in response to police brutality.
He added, “Let’s be across the board and say anybody who resorts to violence to settle political disputes — there’s no place for that in America, and it should be disputed unequivocally.”
Scalise wrote an op-ed published by the Wall Street Journal last month calling the riots “domestic terrorism” and suggested Trump “should have denounced the attack unequivocally as it was taking place,” as IJR reported.
