President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that he would be canceling a planned press conference that was to be held on January 6th.
QUICK FACTS:
- During the event, which was to be held at Mar-a-Lago, Trump was expected to talk about the 2020 election as well as the House select committee’s investigation into the Capitol unrest that took place on January 6, 2021.
- Trump blamed the committee for this decision, but said he would be discussing many of these topics at a rally near Florence, Arizona on Jan 15, Politico reported.
- “In light of the total bias and dishonesty of the January 6th Unselect Committee of Democrats, two failed Republicans, and the Fake News Media, I am canceling the January 6th Press Conference at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday,” Trump said.
WHAT SENATE REPUBLICANS SAID:
- “I don’t think it’s a good idea. I guess it depends on what he’s going to say. But early assumptions are that it’s going to be an aggressive statement. I just don’t think it’s a good idea,” Shelly Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) said.
- Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said she wanted to “stay focused on congressional activities.”
- Pat Toomey, Sen. of Pennsylvania stated that the event wasn’t a “terribly good idea.”
BACKGROUND:
- Last week, Trump initially announced the event as a press conference to talk about important issues, reframing the November 2020 election as being the real “insurrection,” instead of Jan 6.
- “I will be having a news conference on January 6th at Mar-a-Lago to discuss all of these points, and more.” Trump said, “Until then, remember, the insurrection took place on November 3rd, it was the completely unarmed protest of the rigged election that took place on January 6th.”
- “Why isn’t the Unselect Committee of highly partisan political hacks investigating the CAUSE of the January 6th protest, which was the rigged Presidential Election of 2020?” Trump asked in an earlier statement. He was referring to the committee head Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who had announced that her office was set to hold a “prayerful vigil” and discussions with historians on the day of the first anniversary.
