Trump: In retrospect, he'd ensure that National Guard troops were deployed on January 6

AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Donald Trump and Bill O’Reilly are touring four cities together. It’s called “The History Tour”. Last weekend they did two stops in Florida. This weekend brought them to Texas for shows in Houston and Dallas. O’Reilly asks the former president questions and Trump responds. In Houston on Saturday night, Trump was asked if he would do anything different on January 6. His response was that “I would have insisted they had proper protection.”

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The tour stop in Houston was at the Toyota Center and “thousands” were in attendance, according to the Houston Chronicle. Trump was an hour and a half late due to severe weather conditions. His plane’s landing was delayed.

Former President Donald Trump said Saturday that if he could do it over again, he would do more to ensure that National Guard troops were deployed on Jan. 6 to prevent the storming of the U.S. Capitol.

In a public question-and-answer session with former Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly, Trump said he had recommended a day before the riot that 10,000 troops be deployed at the Capitol, but it didn’t happen.

“I would have insisted they had proper protection,” Trump told thousands of supporters at the Toyota Center in Houston.

O’Reilly did not ask about the recently surfaced text messages read aloud by the January 6 investigative committee. Trump’s son, Donald, Jr. sent more than one text to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows stating that the president needed to deliver a speech from the Oval Office telling the protesters to go home. Trump, Jr. told Meadows that the president “needed to “condemn this s— ASAP.” Meadows responded in the affirmative. At least two Fox News personalities also texted Meadows begging Trump to say something, Laura Ingraham, and Brian Kilmeade.

Trump didn’t apologize for not acting more quickly. He did speak of the “Stop the Steal” rally he held at the Ellipse on January 6, before the riot on Capitol Hill. According to the Chronicle’s story, Trump repeated many claims of the election being stolen. It also notes that Democrats accuse Trump of inciting the crowd toward violence with such statements as, “We fight like hell. And if you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”

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Trump also defended Ashli Bobbitt, the 35-year-old Air Force veteran who was fatally shot by a Capitol Police officer during the storming of the building. Trump called Bobbitt a patriot and said “nobody else died” that day.

This being Houston, local media’s favorite Democrat, Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee was quoted with a statement, a “Democratic response”.

In a Democratic response to Trump’s remarks, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee said Trump was continuing “to push a big lie that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris did not win the election with the largest vote total in the history of the United States for any presidential election, but rather, that the former President won.

“This is dangerous, and it is a poor reflection for America’s commitment to democracy for the rest of the world to see,” Jackson Lee said in a statement.

Trump didn’t indicate if he’d run for president again in 2024 but he did say public service is worth it. “I love this country.”

He said he had a good relationship with both China and Russia during his presidency. He said if he was still in office, Russia would not be threatening to invade Ukraine. Trump also said that China and Russia don’t respect Biden.

Before the event, hundreds of people lined up outside in the rain. One group of Vietnamese women covered themselves with the South Vietnamese flag as well as red, white, and blue scarves.

Hien Truong, Hong Minh, and other women from the Hon-Viet singing group draped themselves in the colors of the South Vietnamese flag and a scarf with the colors red, white and blue.

All said they were at the event to support the former president and a possible Trump campaign in 2024.

“He made America great again and what he promised to do, he did it. He’s a good man,” said Troung, adding that she supported his tough stance toward China.

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The tour goes to Dallas Sunday night, to the American Airlines Center. Trump attended services at First Baptist Church Dallas. The crowd at the church of loyal Trump supporter senior pastor Robert Jeffress was expected to be about 6,000. The website to purchase tickets for the Dallas stop with O’Reilly, an afternoon show has only a few seats left as of Sunday morning. Tickets range from $106 to $206.

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