Jan. 6 committee members say Trump's calling the FBI 'vicious monsters' at a rally may constitute incitement
- Donald Trump at a rally called the FBI "vicious monsters" controlled by left-wing radicalists.
- Two Jan. 6 panel members said Trump might be inciting attacks on the FBI with that speech.
Members of the House select committee investigating the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot said Donald Trump's criticisms of the FBI at his Saturday rally might incite his supporters to violence.
At the rally in Pennsylvania for GOP midterm candidates, the former president speculated that the August 8 FBI raid at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida was part of a plot by his political foes.
"The FBI and the Justice Department have become vicious monsters, controlled by radical-left scoundrels, lawyers, and the media, who tell them what to do — you people right there," Trump said, apparently pointing to journalists covering the event, "and when to do it."
Rep. Liz Cheney, one of two Republicans sitting on the House committee, said this showed Trump was deliberately seeking to stir violence.
"Trump is attacking law enforcement and yet again using language he knows will provoke violence. Only one group of Americans has a chance to diminish this danger — Republicans," tweeted Cheney, who was recently ousted from her Wyoming congressional seat after becoming one of Trump's fiercest GOP critics.
"If my fellow Republicans fail to step up to stop this," she said, "they will share the blame for all that follows."
Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat on the January 6 committee, gave similar remarks in a Sunday interview with CNN.
When the host Jim Acosta asked Lofgren whether Trump's comments constituted incitement, she said: "Well, potentially yes."
"In the lead-up to January 6, there were extravagant claims made meant to inflame public opinion, and that is what is happening here," she continued.
"I think it's meant to turn people against law-enforcement officers. And we've seen that sometimes that rhetoric reaches people who are prepared to act on it."
Lofgren cited the recent case of a Trump supporter who attacked an FBI office in Cincinnati after posting messages about the Mar-a-Lago raid online. The supporter was later killed by law-enforcement officers.
The Justice Department has warned of a sharp increase in threats faced by FBI officials in the wake of the raid and has arrested several other people it alleges to have made threats against the agency.
Trump and his allies have unleashed a furious series of attacks on the agency. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina warned last week that Trump supporters would riot if the former president were indicted, prompting critics to say he was making a veiled threat.
The FBI has cited evidence that Trump may have violated several laws in taking highly classified documents and other government records to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office and that his aides tried to obstruct the bureau's investigation.
The former president is also facing other investigations into his bid to overturn his 2020 election defeat, with the January 6 committee saying Trump deliberately sought to stir his supporters to attack the Capitol in an incendiary speech ahead of the riot.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in relation to the riot. On Friday, he also said he could offer pardons to all of those convicted in relation to the attack if reelected.