Former CIA Director John Brennan, now an MSNBC contributor, said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Deadline” that there is no doubt “Donald J. Trump spewing forth the lies that the election was stolen” caused the Capitol riot.
Brennan said, “In the aftermath of 9/11, they looked at the lack of cooperation with the federal agencies. I think we have to do that domestically. There’s a distributed responsibility. Unfortunately, I think between the FBI and Homeland Security and other departments and agencies working with local law enforcement, I don’t think we have a coherent architecture that’s able to understand some of these trends and these developments that are contributing to this rise in right-wing violent extremism. I think we have to organize ourselves better, so we are able to monitor and address these concerns.”
He added, “Secondly, I think we have to look at what role the political official, policymakers play in stirring up these emotions. Clearly, January 6, the person most responsible for that, without a doubt, was Donald J. Trump spewing forth the lies that the election was stolen. Calling these people to appear in the Capitol January 6, the day the Senate was supposed to certify the election. Clearly, he was the instigator of it. He was able to tap into the fears and emotions and be able to bring them together in a way that led to that assault.”
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