NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump repeatedly declined in an interview aired Sunday to answer questions about whether he watched the Capitol riot unfold on television, saying he would “tell people later at an appropriate time.”

Trump, the current front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, refused to say on NBC’s “Meet the Press” how he spent Jan. 6, 2021, once the insurrection began and whether he made phone calls as his supporters stormed the seat of American democracy.

“I’m not going to tell you. I’ll tell people later at an appropriate time,” Trump told moderator Kristen Welker after she asked if he spent that afternoon watching the attack on television in a dining room at the White House.

Trump’s former aides have said he sequestered himself in the room off the Oval Office to watch, at times even rewinding and rewatching some parts.

In the interview, taped Thursday at Trump’s golf club in New Jersey, Trump refused to say who he called as the violence unfolded. “Why would I tell you that?” he said.

Trump said in response to Welker’s pressing him about his public silence during the violence that he had made “beautiful statements” on the day of the attack.

Trump’s supporters, fueled by his lies about the 2020 presidential election, stormed the building as Congress prepare to certify the victory of Democrat Joe Biden. Trump is facing federal criminal charges for his efforts to overturn his loss in that election but he is not facing charges related to the insurrection.

Trump said he might consider pardoning some of the rioters charged for their actions that day.

More than 1,000 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the Jan. 6 riot and more than 600 have pleaded guilty or been convicted.

“I’m going to look at them, and I certainly might if I think it’s appropriate” to pardon them, the former president said.

Trump also said he would consider pardoning former Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was sentenced to 22 years in prison orchestrating a failed plot to keep Trump in power. Trump said Tarrio was treated “horribly,” according to a full transcript of the NBC interview, which included parts that were not aired.

Trump is facing 91 criminal charges across four cases in federal and state courts related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, the mishandling of classified documents and charges related to allegations of hush-money paid to cover up extramarital affairs. He has denied wrongdoing.

Trump was asked if he fears going to jail.

“No, I don’t really. I don’t even think about it. I’m built a little differently I guess,” he said.

As he pushed to overturn the election, Trump relied on a band of outside allies who undertook what federal prosecutors have called a “criminal scheme” to fraudulently overturn the 2020 results instead of relying on the advice of attorneys in the White House who urged him to accept his loss to Biden.

Trump was asked in the interview why he didn’t listen to those lawyers.

“I didn’t respect them,” Trump said.

“In many cases, I didn’t respect them. But I did respect others. I respected many others that said the election was rigged.”

Trump said he was listening both to his instincts and “different people” to guide his actions around the election’s results.

The NBC appearance was Trump’s first broadcast network interview since leaving office and marked Welker’s debut show as host.

Trump also said he was pleased to hear Russian President Vladimir Putin’s recent remarks praising Trump for suggesting that he were elected to the White House again, he would negotiate an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. Putin on Tuesday said Trump’s statements were “good” and brought “happiness.”

“Well, I like that he said that. Because that means what I’m saying is right,” Trump said on NBC.

Trump said he had had a good relationship with Putin, something he has said several times before, and denied that any deal he would seek in Ukraine would be a win for Russia and allow it to keep territory it has seized.

“That’s something that could have been negotiated,” Trump said. He went on and said, “They could have made a deal where there’s lesser territory right now than Russia’s already taken, to be honest.”

Trump repeatedly declined to say whether he would support a federal ban on abortion and he criticized a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy that was signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of Trump’s top rivals in the presidential primary.

“I think what he did is a terrible thing and a terrible mistake,” Trump said.

Trump said he did not care whether abortion was ultimately banned at a federal level or settled by laws in each state. The U.S. Supreme Court, with the support of three justices appointed by Trump, last year overturned the federal right to an abortion.

“From a pure standpoint, from a legal standpoint, I think it’s probably better” to be handled at the state level, Trump said.

“But I can live with it either way. It’s much more important, the number of weeks is much more important.”

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A man drove his car into a barricade near the U.S. Capitol early Sunday and then began firing gunshots in the air before fatally shooting himself, according to police, who said he did not seem to be targeting any member of Congress.

The incident happened just before 4 a.m. at a vehicle barricade set at East Capitol Street NE and 2nd Street SE in Washington.

It comes at a time when law enforcement authorities across the country are facing an increasing number of threats and federal officials have warned about the potential of violent attacks on government buildings in the days since the FBI’s search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

The attack is reminiscent of an incident when a man drove a vehicle into two Capitol Police officers at a checkpoint in April 2021, killing an 18-year veteran of the force. And many on Capitol Hill remain on edge after supporters of the then-president stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Authorities said the man, identified as Richard A. York III, 29, of Delaware, crashed into the barricade and that as he was getting out of the car, the vehicle became engulfed in flames. The man then opened fire, firing several shots into the air as police approached.

Capitol Police said the man shot himself as the officers neared. He was later pronounced dead.

Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger said officers did not hear the man say anything before he opened fire “indiscriminately” in the street with a handgun and walked toward the Capitol building. Authorities are investigating whether the man may have set his car on fire, the chief said, because the collision did not appear to cause the blaze.

Police officers at the scene saw the man fatally shoot himself as they approached, Manger said.

The chief said investigators located addresses for the man in Delaware and Pennsylvania and learned he had a criminal history in the past decade, though his motive remained unclear and he had no links to the Capitol.,

“We don’t have any information that would indicate his motivation at this point,” Manger said.

Police said “it does not appear the man was targeting any member of Congress” and that investigators are examining the man’s background as they work to try to discern a motive. Both the House and Senate are in recess and very few staff members work in the Capitol complex at that hour.

Authorities said no other injuries were reported and police do not believe any officers returned fire.

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Former President Donald Trump argued in a court filing late Monday that he cannot be sued by Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) for his alleged role in inciting the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building because he was conducting official presidential business, in a continuation of past claims that the presidency rendered him “immune” from legal liability —which legal experts have partially rejected when it comes to criminal charges.

KEY FACTS

• Swalwell is suing Trump and allies including Donald Trump Jr. and Rudy Giuliani over the Jan. 6 riot, alleging they violated the Ku Klux Klan Act through their claims of election fraud and attempts to block Congress from certifying the election results, particularly at a rally Trump spoke at that took place immediately before the Capitol was attacked.

• In a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, lawyers representing the ex-president and his son argued that Trump has “absolute immunity” against legal action over conduct while he was president.

• Legal experts broadly agree that presidents can be criminally charged after leaving office, including for something committed while they were president, though the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Nixon vs. Fitzgerald that ex-presidents are immune from being sued in civil cases for damages—such as Swalwell’s suit—that arise from their official acts as president.

• Based on that precedent, Trump’s attorneys allege that the then-president’s efforts to overturn the election results were part of his presidential duties, claiming immunity would only not apply if Trump were conducting “purely personal and purely unofficial actions.”

• “It is well recognized that rousing and controversial speeches are a key function of the presidency,” Trump’s lawyers argued in defense of his Jan. 6 rally speech—in which he pushed false election fraud claims and argued for lawmakers and Vice President Mike Pence to block the election results—claiming the then-president was “advocating for … congressional action.”

• The motion also argues that Trump’s false claims about the election were protected speech under the First Amendment, an argument that some legal experts have cast doubts on and suggested could potentially rise to the level of unprotected incitement of violence.

CRUCIAL QUOTE

“While holding that office, former President Trump was free to advocate for the appointment and certification of electors, just as he was entitled to advocate for the passage or defeat of a constitutional amendment, or the reconsideration of a congressional act over his veto even though the President does not directly participate in those congressional acts,” Trump’s lawyers argue.

KEY BACKGROUND

Trump repeatedly claimed he had immunity in responding to the lawsuits brought against him while he was president and he was never charged with a crime while in office. The Supreme Court did put a dent in Trump’s immunity theory in a 2020 ruling on a grand jury subpoena for his tax returns, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing, “No citizen, not even the President, is categorically above the common duty to produce evidence when called upon in a criminal proceeding.” Since departing the White House, Trump has become more open to legal jeopardy, and faces multiple investigations from prosecutors including the Fulton County District Attorney in Georgia, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and New York Attorney General Letitia James. In addition to Swalwell’s suit, 11 other House lawmakers have also brought a separate lawsuit against Trump and Giuliani for their alleged role in the Jan. 6 attack.

Alison Durkee | Contributed

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Jacob Anthony Angeli Chansley, who also goes by Jake Angeli, was arrested Saturday and charged with knowingly entering or remaining in a restricted building without lawful authority, the Department of Justice announced.

He was also charged with violent entry and disorderly conduct on Capitol grounds. “This individual carried a spear, approximately 6 feet in length, with an American flag tied just below the blade,” according to a statement from the DOJ.

Chansley served in the Navy as a supply clerk seaman apprentice, according to his personnel records. He joined the service in September 2005 and left in October 2007, after earning the rank of E-2 about two months prior. He trained in Illinois and Mississippi before being assigned to the now-decommissioned supercarrier Kitty Hawk in 2006.

His last duty station was with the Transient Personnel Unit in Puget Sound, Washington. Chansley, who calls himself the “QAnon Shaman,” has long been a fixture at Trump rallies, The Associated Press reported Monday.

He was photographed by the AP wearing the same headpiece at a Nov. 7 rally in Phoenix, where supporters of President Donald Trump were protesting the election results. “In that photo, Chansley … held a sign that read, ‘HOLD THE LINE PATRIOTS GOD WINS,'” according to the wire service. “… The FBI identified Chansley by his distinctive tattoos, which include bricks circling his biceps in an apparent reference to Trump’s border wall.”

Chansley’s mom said her son hasn’t eaten since Friday because the detention facility he’s in won’t feed him organic food, ABC15 in Phoenix reported. The Navy vet is one of thousands of Trump supporters who surrounded the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 while Vice President Mike Pence and members of Congress were affirming President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral win inside. Some moved barriers and pushed past members of the Capitol police, breaking windows to get into the building.

Pence and some lawmakers were ushered to safety, while other members of Congress, staffers and journalists sheltered in place. Video footage show members of the mob breaking into offices, posing for photos and turning over furniture. Chansley is one of at least two military veterans facing charges in connection to last week’s storming of the Capitol.

Retired Air Force Reserve Lt. Col. Larry Rendall Brock Jr., who was photographed carrying zip-tie handcuffs and wearing military patches on a flak jacket during the siege, was arrested Sunday in Texas. Brock was charged with knowingly entering a restricted building without lawful authority, according to the Justice Department. The Army is also investigating a psychological operations captain for her involvement in the rally that led to the violent breach of the Capitol. Military officials have pledged to investigate any active-duty troops believed to be involved in the incident.

Two other veterans, Brian Sicknick and Ashli Babbitt, died in connection with last week’s events. Sicknick, a U.S. Capitol Police officer who served six years with the New Jersey Air National Guard, died Thursday after engaging with protesters the day before. Babbitt, a former airman and protester, was shot and killed by police in the Capitol.

Gina Harkins • Military.com

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