In response to Donald Trump doubling down on his whitewashing on January 6 and calling Americans “the enemy within,” DNC Rapid Response Director Alex Floyd released the following statement: 

“Donald Trump has been given every chance to clean up his appalling rhetoric attacking fellow Americans and celebrating the violence of January 6 – and every time he has only doubled down on his dangerous extremism. Trump this morning said that January 6 ‘was actually a beautiful thing,’ and once again attacked American citizens as ‘the enemy within’ – and his fellow MAGA Republicans dutifully defended all of it. Voters aren’t going to let an unhinged, extremist-filled Trump administration get another chance to undermine our democracy, and in just sixteen days, they’ll make him a two-time loser.”

Donald Trump again said January 6 “was actually a beautiful thing,” and doubled down on calling Americans “the enemy within.”

Howard Kurtz, Fox News: “January 6, the other day you called it ‘a day of love,’ that sparked a lot of reaction given that many police officers were attacked and there were mobs shouting ‘hang Mike Pence.’ Can you understand why many Americans can view it as a dark and tragic day in our history?”

Donald Trump: “The crowd I spoke before, which you rarely see. I have pictures of it, massive but nobody wants to put it in. It was the biggest crowd I’ve ever spoken to and I’ve spoken to the biggest crowds. I’ve never seen that many people. A small group of them. And, you know, peacefully and patriotically, which nobody uses my words with peacefully and patriotically. A small group went down to the Capitol, but they came, they came because they thought it was a rigged election. This was a protest against a rigged election. And I can’t say exactly the number, but I’ve had massive crowds, and this was by far the biggest crowd — I’ve spoken to the crowd at the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial, on the Fourth of July, this crowd was bigger. And I’ll tell you, there was a beauty to it and there was a love to it that I’ve never seen before […] A small group of people went down to the Capitol, and then a lot of strange things happened […] I’m saying that when I saw that tremendous crowd, the largest group I’ve ever spoken to, in front of these beautiful monuments. I thought it was actually a beautiful thing.” 

Kurtz: “I want to drill down on this question of retribution against your political opponents, because you’ve had opportunities to walk that back. And my question is this: are you prepared to say now that you will not use law enforcement to punish or prosecute your political opponents?”

Trump: “Excuse me, that’s what they’re using on me.”

Kurtz: “You talk about the enemy within. There’s America’s enemies outside, ‘the enemy within’ is a pretty ominous phrase if you’re talking about other Americans.”

Trump: “I think it’s accurate. I mean, I think it’s accurate.”

Kurtz: “Who are you talking about because the enemy –”

Trump: “But what they’ve done is so terrible. Who’s ever heard of anything like this? Adam shifty Schiff. He’s a crooked guy. He’s a crooked politician. 100% he’s going to be a senator now, can you believe it?”

Kurtz: “But again, he’s a political opponent of yours, is he the enemy?”

Trump: “No, he’s a well, he’s, of course, he’s an enemy. He’s an enemy […] These are bad people. We have a lot of bad people, but when you look at shifty Schiff and some of the others, yeah, they are, to me, the enemy from within. I think Nancy Pelosi is an enemy from within.”

MAGA Mike Johnson refused to condemn Trump’s threats to use the National Guard and U.S. military against his political opponents.

Jake Tapper, CNN: “In multiple interviews this week, Donald Trump repeatedly referred to prominent Democrats and others on the left in the United States, American citizens, as ‘the enemy from within.’ And he suggested as president, he would want to use the National Guard or military against them. Let me play some of that for our viewers.”

Clip of Trump: “The bigger problem are the people from within. We have some very bad people. We have some sick people, radical left lunatics. And I think, and it should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or if really necessary, by the military because they can’t let that happen.”

Tapper: “One of the first things you did when you joined Congress was to create the Honor and Civility Caucus. Does wanting to use the military against political opponents, would that pass muster with the Civility Caucus?”

Mike Johnson: “That’s not [laughs] Jake, you know that’s not what he’s talking about there. What he’s talking about is marauding gangs of dangerous, violent people who are destroying public property.”

Tapper: “Nope. He talked about Adam Schiff, Rep. Pelosi — Governor Youngkin tried this with me too. He was very clear. Let me play, because he was asked about this later on, because Fox always likes to give Donald Trump an opportunity to clean it up. And he always says, no, no. I said what I meant. Here’s what he said when asked about it the next day.”

Clip of Trump: “It is the enemy from within and they’re very dangerous. They’re marxists and communists and fascists. And they’re sick. I use a guy like Adam Schiff because they made up the Russia, Russia, Russia hoax. It took two years to solve the problem, absolutely nothing was done wrong, et cetera. They’re dangerous for our country. We have China, we have Russia, we have all these countries. If you have a smart president, they can all be handled. The more difficult are, you know, the Pelosis, these people, they’re so sick and they’re so evil.”

Tapper: “That’s who he’s talking about using the U.S. military against. Not marauding gangs of Venezuelans. Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, Nancy Pelosi’s husband Paul. So let me just say, if a Democratic presidential candidate said that you and your wife were evil, and that the military should be used against you, I would say that’s disgusting.”

Johnson: “I did not hear President Trump in that clip say he’s going to sick the military on Adam Schiff. That’s not what he’s saying.”

Lindsey Graham defended Trump’s branding of political opponents as “the enemy within,” and said the rioters on January 6 were there “out of love of the country.”

Kristen Welker, NBC News: “Senator, the enemy from within, is that a winning closing message for the former president?”

Lindsey Graham: “Well, we do have enemies within […] So, I’m not overly impressed about the rhetoric game here.”

Welker: “I want to ask you about January 6th, which did come up at a town hall this week, that’s why I want to ask you about it. A voter said Trump had lost his vote. He asked Trump, ‘win back my vote.’ Trump called it a day of love. Senator, you were there for January 6th, lawmakers running for their lives. More than 140 law enforcement officials injured that day, some were beaten with baseball bats and flag poles, is that what you consider a day of love, Senator?”

Graham: “Most people didn’t enter the Capitol […] Most people that came up there thought the election was stolen.”

Welker: “But Senator, a day of love […] Do you agree with that? Was it a day of love?”

Graham: “The people there — most people there didn’t attack the Capitol. They came out of love of the country.”

Chris Sununu said that Trump won’t “necessarily” weaponize the federal government to after his political opponents.

Martha Raddatz, ABC News: “I want to go back to some of the comments that former President Trump has made, threatening to put his enemies within, having the National Guard or even the military take care of them. You say that’s all hyperbole and smile, but those things have real consequences. There are people who have been threatened at FEMA and elsewhere over comments that the president and JD Vance have made. Does that give you pause ever as you still continue to support Donald Trump?”

Chris Sununu: “He was president for four years. Did he go after his political enemies? Did he weaponize the Department of Justice and go after Hillary Clinton? Remember when he said, ‘we’re going to lock her up, lock her up?’ Of course, he didn’t do that, right? He’s trying to get his base riled up […]”

Raddatz: “So what should his supporters believe? What should his supporters believe?”

Sununu: “So what he’s saying is, ‘I’m a fighter. I’m always going to fight, I’m never gonna lay down,’ not just for himself personally, but for other Americans. And that’s why other Americans galvanize to that. They connect with it on a fiery level. They want a fighter, someone who’s going to stand up. Now again, I don’t think he’s going to go and weaponize — he didn’t do it the first term and he’s not gonna necessarily do it this term. But he’s making a point that we want leaders that are fighters and stand up for their fellow Americans.”

Glenn Youngkin deflected when asked about the many, many former Trump administration officials who say he is dangerous and unfit for office.

Shannon Bream, Fox News: “Retired General Mark Milley, who served of course in the Trump administration, he is quoted Bob Woodward’s new book saying this: ‘He is the most dangerous person ever,’ meaning President Trump, ‘I had suspicions when I talked to you about his mental decline and so forth, but now I realize he’s a total fascist. He is now the most dangerous person to this country.’ There are ads with quotes from former Trump staffers, people who served under him saying similar things. Why should Americans not have some concern if people who worked closest with President Trump are describing him this way?”

Glenn Youngkin: “They actually have to revert to old adages about what they have been calling him for a long time which is, sadly, the lie that he’s unfit for office.”