Nancy Pelosi has said that President Donald Trump could be seen as criminally liable for what happened at the Capitol on January 6.
Pelosi already pushed a second impeach against Trump, officially labeling him with the charge of “incitement of insurrection.” But talking to MSNBC, Pelosi claimed Trump could also be seen as an “accessory” to murder for the deaths of his own supporters, because of his words surrounding the election.
During the interview, Joy Reid asked Nancy Pelosi how Congress can move on with Trump loyalists still in power, especially politicians who supported President Trump’s claims of a stolen election.
“We have more security than anybody ever imagined we would need. Why is this? Because Trump told his supporters that the election was not valid and they believed him,” Pelosi said.
“A president’s words are vital, they carry a lot of weight,” Pelosi went on. “And if you are Trump talking to these supporters, they believe him. So, when we discuss ‘did any politician collaborate?’ Well, that will be determined. We need to have the evidence for that.”
“And if it turned out to be true, then they would be an accessory to the criminal action. And this crime, in certain cases, was murder,” Pelosi added. “And Trump is an accessory to that crime due to his instigation of the insurrection that led to those deaths .”
D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine said previously that he could criminally charge Donald Trump for his part in the Capitol protest.
In fact, Racine said during an interview with MSNBC that President Trump could be given as much as a six-month jail sentence.
“Let it be seen that the office of A.G. has a possible charge that it may use,” Racine said. “It’s law here since 2011. It states that comments done that directly encourage or motivate people to commit violence are illegal.”
Racine went on to say Trump’s “behavior before the mob stormed the Capitol is important. I think his behavior during that time and immediately afterword is also important.”
But no prosecutor, either inside D.C. or elsewhere has said they will push criminal charges against President Trump.
