Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) on Tuesday condemned Donald Trump’s whipping up of his supporters into committing acts of violence in last week’s U.S.Capitol riot with a damning comparison of the president to Osama bin Laden.
Swalwell, in an interview with PBS News’ Judy Woodruff, suggested Trump had radicalized and incited his base just as the orchestrator of the 9/11 terror attacks had done.
“Osama bin Laden did not enter U.S. soil on September 11, but it was widely acknowledged he was responsible for inspiring the attack on our country,” Swalwell noted, ahead of Trump’s impeachment for the second time for inciting the violent scenes in Washington that shocked the world.
“And the president, with his words, using the words ‘fight,’ with the speakers that he assembled that day, who called for ‘trial by combat’ and said we have to ‘take names and kick ass’, that is hate speech that inspired and radicalized people to storm the Capitol.”
Woodruff asked Swalwell if he was comparing Trump to bin Laden, who U.S. forces killed in 2011.
“I’m comparing the words of an individual who would incite and radicalize somebody, as Osama bin Laden did, to what President Trump did,” the lawmaker replied. “You don’t actually have to commit the violence yourself, but if you call others to violence, that itself is a crime.”
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