GOP senator: Trump was 'delighted' with Capitol attack

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE) said on Friday that officials in the White House told him that as rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol, Donald Trump was “excited” and “delighted” by the events.

“As this was unfolding on television, Donald Trump was walking around the White House confused about why other people on his team weren’t as excited as he was as you had rioters pushing against Capitol Police trying to get into the building,” Sasse told conservative talk show host Hugh Hewitt, relaying what he had been told by those close to Trump.

Sasse added, “He was delighted.”

Five people died as a result of the siege of the Capitol on Wednesday, when pro-Trump rioters entered the building and destroyed federal property.

On Wednesday morning, before his supporters ransacked the Capitol, Trump, who had in December told his Twitter followers, “Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!” held a rally at which he repeated lies and conspiracy theories about the election he lost to President-elect Joe Biden.

From the Jan. 8 edition of “The Hugh Hewitt Show”:

HUGH HEWITT: Do you, I’ve got to land the plane, though, Senator. Do you think he intended for the riot and the occupation, the insurrection to happen?

 

BEN SASSE: I think Donald Trump wanted there to be massive divisions, and he was telling people there was a path by which he was going to stay in office after Jan. 20.

 

That was never true. And he wanted chaos on television. I don’t have any idea what was in his heart about what he wanted to happen once they were in the Capitol, but he wanted there to be chaos, and I’m sure you’ve also had conversations with other senior White House officials, as I have.

 

HEWITT: I have.

 

SASSE: As this was unfolding on television, Donald Trump was walking around the White House confused about why other people on his team weren’t as excited as he was as you had rioters pushing against Capitol Police trying to get into the building.

 

HEWITT: That said —

 

SASSE: That was happening. He was delighted.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.