The Republican House Intelligence Committee chair, Rep. Mike Turner, refused to condemn those arrested during the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol Building, after Trump called them "hostages" and "patriots."
Rep. Turner joined ABC News' This Week and was quizzed by Martha Raddatz about Trump's latest mental breakdown about the insurrection.
RADDATZ: He’s also called those who stormed the Capitol, and you heard that so-called January 6 choir, he’s called them hostages and patriots.
What effect do you think that has on his supporters? It was President Trump who wanted his supporters to go up on the Hill on January 6. Does that have an effect on people when they hear those words?
TURNER: Well, as you know, he did not call for the storming of the Capitol, and we have had a number of these cases, that there has been questions concerning how those cases have been prosecuted, and the individuals, where there have been cases even overturned.
You would think, of course, that Donald Trump would have very strong emotional feelings about the individuals who have -- who’ve been in jail and have gone to prison over these.
Trump riled up his MAGA mob into a rage-filled tornado after his heinous Ellipsis speech and all but ordered them to try and stop the counting of the state delegates so he could try and overthrow the 2020 presidential election.
Any normal person would not feel so compassionate to traitors and insurrectionists. Now it's time for Turner to turn into a mealy-mouthed lap dog.
RADDATZ: Do you support those comments? Are they hostages?
TURNER: -- on January 8.
RADDATZ: Are they hostages and patriots?
TURNER: No, I don’t -- I don’t believe they’re hostages. I don’t believe in our judicial system, and I believe, though, Martha, as you’ve seen because you reported them, some of these cases have been overturned. Some of the -- even the legal construct of the basis of a number of these cases have been overturned.
This is going to be, you know, a continuing legal process, and I -- this person -- you know, this president obviously has very strong personal views on this.
Out of thousands of people who stormed the US Capitol, of course, there would be a few who should not have been prosecuted, but to blanket the entire insurrection with this cloak of both sides is unconscionable.
Just look at the tape of the attack on the US Capitol.
It's Republican congressmen like Turner who refuse to tell the truth and is helping to perpetuate the lie that the election was stolen from Trump and there really wasn't an insurrection on January 6. "People got a little out of hand."
It's disqualifying.
UPDATE: Mike Turner sang a different tune three years ago.
