Jake Tapper Presses Evasive Trump After Capitol Riot Dodge: ‘My Question Was…’

CNN’s Jake Tapper, co-moderator of the first presidential debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, had to repeat a question about the January 6 insurrection after Trump dodged the question.

Tapper’s original question to Trump inquired about whether or not the ex-president violated his Constitutional oath when he seemingly inspired his followers to storm the Capitol and interrupt the peaceful transfer of power. Trump’s answer had nothing to do with the question:

TAPPER: Former President Trump, I want to ask you about January 6th, 2021. After you rallied your supporters that day, some of them stormed the Capitol to stop the constitutionally mandated counting of electoral votes. As president, you swore an oath to, “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution. What do you say to voters who believe that you violated that oath through your actions and inaction on January 6th and worry that you’ll do it again?

TRUMP: Well, I don’t think too many believe that, and let me tell you about January 6th. On January 6th, we had a great border. Nobody coming through. Very few. On January 6th we were energy independent. On January 6th we had the lowest taxes ever. We had the lowest regulations ever. On January 6th, we were respected all over the world. All over the world we were respected. And then he comes in, and we’re now laughed at, we’re like a bunch of stupid people. What happened to the United States’ reputation under this man’s leadership is horrible, including weaponization, which I’m sure at some point you’ll be talking about, where he goes after his political opponent because he can’t beat him fair and square.

Tapper informed Trump of his remaining time, and repeated the question:

TAPPER: You have 80 seconds left. My question was, what do you say to those voters who believe that you’ve violated your constitutional oath through your actions and inaction on January 6th, 2021 and worry that you’ll do it again?

Trump: Well, I didn’t say that to anybody. I said peacefully and patriotically. And Nancy Pelosi, if you just watched the news from two days ago, on tape to her daughter, who is a documentary filmmaker, they say, but she’s saying, “Oh, no, it’s my responsibility. I was responsible for this.” Because I offered her 10,000 soldiers of our National Guard, and she turned them down. And the mayor of — in writing, by the way, the mayor in writing turned it down, the mayor of of D.C. They turned it down. I offered 10,000 because I could see, I had virtually nothing to do– they asked me to go make a speech. I could see what was happening. Everybody was saying, they’re going to be there on January 6th. They’re going to be there. And I said, you know what? That’s a lot of people coming. You could feel it. You could feel it too, and you could feel it. And I said, they ought to have some National Guard or whatever. And I offered it to her. And she now admits that she turned it down. And it was the same day she was, I don’t know, she can’t be very happy with her daughter because it made her into a liar. She said, “I take full responsibility for January 6th.”

Watch the video above via CNN.

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