Friday 22 January 2021

A former Trump White House spokesperson said the Capitol riots gave the ex-president's legacy a 'black eye'

Hogan Gidley, Trump's former deputy press aide, called the Capitol siege a "black eye" on his legacy.
Five people died when Trump supporters stormed the Capitol on January 6.
Trump has since been impeached on charges of "inciting an insurrection," his second impeachment.
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A former White House deputy press secretary said the Capitol siege will be a "black eye," on former President Donald Trump's legacy.

In an interview with Showtime's TheCircus, host Alex Wagner challenged Hogan Gidley, telling Trump's former aide the ex-president is "going to be remembered for the final act of his presidency - a white supremacist mob storming the Capitol and trying to kill lawmakers."

Gidley told Wagner there are many events in Trump's four years of office that people would look back on and make to be the "one seminal thing."

"I'm just trying to point out the fact that, he accomplished a lot from a policy standpoint, he was a lightning rod from a personality standpoint," Gidley said, conceding that "there's no question this last little bit was a black eye," in reference to the January 6 riot that left at least five people dead.

On that day, Trump supporters breached the US Capitol and clashed with law enforcement, halting a joint session of Congress as lawmakers were set to formalize President Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 election and sending lawmakers scrambling for cover.

Trump has been criticized for encouraging the mob and the House has since impeached him on a charge of inciting an insurrection. The Senate will soon hold a trial and vote on whether to convict the former president.

He is the only president in US history to be impeached twice.

Gidley said he wasn't sure if Trump regretted anything about the way he handled the riots.

"We didn't talk about that particular thing. I don't want to guess or try to put thoughts in his head, or words in his mouth. All I can do is look at what he said in real-time," Gidley said before quickly adding. "Like, I don't know. I don't know if he regrets anything or not."

So far, there have been 179 people charged in the Capitol insurrection.

The violence also left a stain on the political careers of several Republican lawmakers. On Thursday, seven Democratic senators filed an ethics complaint on Republican Sens. Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz and called for a probe into whether their objections to the Electoral College vote on January 6 contributed to the siege.

Critics, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have called on Hawley and Cruz to resign.

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