随着选举日的临近，唐纳德·特朗普正在继续他长期以来的努力，重塑2021年1月6日的暴力事件，现在称之为“爱的一天”，尽管他试图让自己与所发生的事情保持距离。
周三，在Univision市政厅，一名共和党观众就特朗普当天的行动向他施压，因为他的数千名支持者冲进了美国国会大厦，暂时扰乱了国会对总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)胜利的认证。
“我想给你一个赢回我的选票的机会，”这位参与者说，并补充说，他认为特朗普的行为和1月6日所谓的不作为“有点令人不安”，并想知道为什么特朗普的一些前政府高级官员不再支持他——有些人甚至称他是国家安全和民主的危险。
特朗普迅速进行了辩护，并在此过程中重复了一些错误或误导性的说法，这些说法早就被证明是错误的或被揭穿的。
这位前总统表示，他“完全不同意”当时的副总统迈克·彭斯坚持履行宪法义务，坚持认证程序，不单方面拒绝选举结果。彭斯说他是不认可战胜这个周期。
特朗普随后声称，他的数千名前往华盛顿的支持者“不是因为我才来的”，尽管他在2020年12月中旬在社交媒体上发布消息称，1月6日将有一场“大抗议”。
“到了，会野的!”特朗普在Twitter上写道，他在那里聚集了大约8800万粉丝。
一个承认那天非法进入国会大厦的人，斯蒂芬·艾尔斯，在法庭文件中和众议院1月6日的委员会面前作证说，特朗普在社交媒体上的活动对他影响很大，他来到华盛顿参加椭圆广场的集会。
“他们来是因为选举，”特朗普周三表示。“他们认为选举被操纵，这就是他们来的原因。有些人去了国会大厦，但我说，和平和爱国。根本没做错什么。”
特朗普接着说，“阿什丽·巴比特被杀了。没有人被杀。下面没有枪。”
35岁的巴比特是特朗普的支持者，也是空军老兵，他被一名美国国会大厦警察开枪打死，他是一群试图通过议长大厅附近设置路障的入口闯入众议院的暴徒之一。
她是在各种原因引起的骚乱期间或之后死亡的几个人之一。四名回应国会大厦袭击的官员后来自杀身亡。被暴徒喷胡椒喷雾的国会警察布莱恩·西尼克中风，第二天死亡。华盛顿的一名法医确定他是自然死亡，但他说那天的经历起了作用。
司法部指出，在法庭上已经证明“在国会大厦使用和携带的武器包括火器;OC喷雾;泰瑟枪;有刃武器，包括剑、斧、斧和刀;和临时武器，如毁坏的办公家具、栅栏、自行车架、偷来的防暴盾牌、棒球棒、曲棍球棒、旗杆、PVC管和加固的指关节手套。”
超过1500人被联邦政府指控与国会大厦袭击有关的罪行，司法部今年早些时候说过。其中包括571名被控袭击、抵抗或阻碍执法人员的人，以及171名被控携带危险或致命武器进入禁区的被告。
至少有943人认罪，其中161人承认袭击执法人员，67人承认使用危险或致命武器袭击执法人员，另有195人在审判中被判有罪。
DOJ称，大约140名执法人员在骚乱中受伤。
1月6日以特朗普在椭圆广场的演讲开始，他在演讲中告诉支持者“和平和爱国地”游行到国会大厦，就像他现在喜欢注意到的那样，但也因为说他们必须“拼命战斗”，否则他们就不会有一个国家，从而加剧了紧张局势。
“但那是爱的一天，”特朗普在Univision市政厅说。“从几百万的角度来看，就像几十万。这可能是我以前接触过的最大的团体。他们请我发言。我去演讲了，我用了“和平地、爱国地”这个词。"
特朗普和他的竞选伙伴俄亥俄州参议员万斯(JD Vance)继续否认2020年的选举结果淡化1月6日发生的事情.
万斯周三什么时候被问及特朗普是否落选回答说，“不，我认为2020年有严重的问题唐纳德·特朗普落选?不是用我会用的词。"
万斯还表示，如果他在2021年处于彭斯的位置，他不会认证选举。
选举否认主义和1月6日的评论促使民主党人和副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯迅速反击。哈里斯把特朗普塑造成一个对民主的威胁随着2024年竞选进入最后几周。
As Nov. 5 nears, Trump steps up attempts to recast Jan. 6 violence as 'day of love'
As Election Day nears,Donald Trumpis continuing his long-standing effort to recast the violent events of Jan. 6, 2021, now calling it a "day of love" even as he tries to distance himself from what happened.
A Republican audience member, during a Univision town hall on Wednesday, pressed Trump on his actions that day as thousands of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, temporarily disrupting the congressional certification of President Joe Biden's victory.
"I want to give you an opportunity to win back my vote," the participant said, adding he found Trump's actions and alleged inaction on Jan. 6 a "little disturbing" and wanted to know why some of Trump's former top administration officials are no longer supporting him -- some even calling him a danger to national security and democracy.
Trump quickly went on defense and in the process repeated some false or misleading claims that have been long disproved or debunked.
The former president said he "totally disagreed" with then-Vice President Mike Pence's adamance to his constitutional duty to uphold the certification process and not unilaterally reject the election results. Pence has said he isnot endorsingTrump this cycle.
Trump then claimed thousands of his supporters who traveled to Washington "didn't come because of me," despite his posting on social media in mid-December 2020 that there would be a "big protest" on Jan. 6.
"Be there, will be wild!" Trump famously wrote on Twitter, where he'd amassed some 88 million followers.
One man who admitted to illegally entering the Capitol that day,Stephen Ayres, testified in court documents and before the House Jan. 6 committee that he was influenced heavily by Trump's activity on social media to come to Washington for the rally at the Ellipse.
"They came because of the election," Trump said on Wednesday. "They thought the election was a rigged election, and that's why they came. Some of those people went down to the Capitol but I said peacefully and patriotically. Nothing done wrong at all."
Trump went on to say, "Ashli Babbitt was killed. Nobody was killed. There were no guns down there."
Babbitt, a 35-year-old Trump supporter and Air Force veteran, was fatally shot by a U.S. Capitol Police officer as one of a group of rioters who tried to break into the House floor through barricaded entrances near the Speaker's Lobby.
She was one of several people who died during or after the riot of various causes. Four officers who responded to the Capitol attack later died by suicide. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who was pepper sprayed by rioters, suffered strokes and died the next day. A Washington medical examiner determined he died of natural causes but said his experience that day played a role.
The Justice Department has noted that in court it has been proven that "weapons used and carried on Capitol grounds include firearms; OC spray; tasers; edged weapons, including a sword, axes, hatchets, and knives; and makeshift weapons, such as destroyed office furniture, fencing, bike racks, stolen riot shields, baseball bats, hockey sticks, flagpoles, PVC piping, and reinforced knuckle gloves."
More than 1,500 people have been federally charged with crimes associated with the Capitol attack, the Justice Departmentsaid earlier this year.That includes 571 charged with assaulting, resisting, or impeding law enforcement agents and 171 defendants charged with entering a restricted area with a dangerous or deadly weapon.
At least 943 individuals have pleaded guilty -- including 161 who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement and 67 who pleaded guilty to assaulting law enforcement with a dangerous or deadly weapon -- and an additional 195 people have been found guilty at trial.
Approximately 140 law enforcement officers were injured during the riot, the DOJ has said.
Jan. 6 began with Trump's speech at the Ellipse, in which he did tell supporters to march "peacefully and patriotically" to the Capitol, as he now likes to note, but also stoked tensions by saying they have to "fight like hell" or they wouldn't have a country.
"But that was a day of love," Trump said at the Univision town hall. "From the standpoint of the millions, it's like hundreds of thousands. It could have been the largest group I've ever spoken to before. They asked me to speak. I went and I spoke, and I used the term 'peacefully and patriotically.'"
The comments come as Trump and his running mate Ohio Sen. JD Vance continue to deny the 2020 election outcome anddownplay what transpired on Jan. 6.
Vance on Wednesday whenasked if Trump lost the electionreplied, "No, I think there are serious problems in 2020 so didDonald Trumplose the election? Not by the words that I would use."
Vance has also said he wouldn't have certified the election were he in Pence's shoes in 2021.
The election denialism and Jan. 6 comments have prompted swift push back from Democrats and Vice President Kamala Harris. Harris has cast Trump as athreat to democracyas the 2024 campaign enters its final weeks.
