- A former aide to Vice President Mike Pence said she was “very concerned” about the possibility of violence in Washington, DC, on January 6, “because the president himself is encouraging it.”
- January 6 is the day that Congress must meet to finalize the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
- “This is what he does. He tweets. He urges. He makes his followers and supporters behave this way, and these people think they are being patriots because they are supporting Donald Trump,” Olivia Troye, who became a Trump critical after leaving the White House in August, he told MSNBC on Monday.
- President Donald Trump has promised his supporters that there will be a “wild” demonstration in the capital on the day of the Congressional vote.
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A former aide to Vice President Mike Pence said on Monday that she feared the violence could explode in Washington, DC, on January 6, the day that Congress must meet to finalize the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
Olivia Troye, who has been a vocal critic of the Trump administration since leaving the White House in August, told MSNBC that she was “very concerned” about the possibility of violence “because the president himself is encouraging it”.
“This is what he does. He tweets. He urges. He makes his followers and supporters behave this way, and these people think they are being patriots because they are supporting Donald Trump,” she said.
“In terms of his legacy, this is a president who calls himself the president of law and order, and we’ve seen everything but that,” continued Troye. “We had a bomb attack on Christmas Day. We had street protests. All of this is out of control ”.
She added: “If that is the legacy he wants, he certainly has it.”
Earlier this month, Trump – who has not yet yielded to President-elect Joe Biden – promised his supporters that there would be a “wild” demonstration in the capital on the day of the Congressional vote.
At least two companies at the center have announced that they will close their doors that day out of concern for staff and guests.
“While we cannot control what happens outside the hotel, we are taking additional steps to protect the safety of our visitors, guests and staff,” Hotel Harrington, which has been a meeting place for Trump supporters and members of the far-right group Proud Boys said on Facebook, according to the Independent.
Olivia Troye, former aide to Vice President Mike Pence.
Screenshot / Republican voters against Trump
Troye, who endorsed Biden before the November election, was Pence’s adviser on homeland security, counterterrorism and the coronavirus pandemic. In September, she criticized Trump’s response to the pandemic.
The congressional vote is considered a formality in which members of the Senate and the House approve the counting of electoral votes decided long ago. Biden obtained 306 electoral votes against 232 for Trump, a result confirmed by the Electoral College on December 14.
Several Republican lawmakers, including Representative Mo Brooks of Alabama and elected Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, said they intended to challenge the results, citing baseless allegations of electoral fraud.
Trump refused to give in to Biden, repeatedly pushing baseless allegations challenging the integrity of the outcome. Trump told aides he may refuse to leave the White House on the day of his inauguration, CNN reported last week.