- Trump's former campaign manager messaged a campaign spokeswoman that he blamed the president for a Capitol rioter's death.
- The campaign manager, Brad Parscale, also said he felt guilty for helping Trump win in 2016.
President Donald Trump's former campaign manager Brad Parscale blamed the president for the death of a Capitol rioter in a series of private texts revealed at the 7th hearing of the House select committee investigating the January 6 insurrection.
In the messages, Parscale told former Trump campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson that he felt remorse for helping Trump get elected in 2016.
"This week," Parscale wrote on the evening of January 6, "I feel guilty for helping him win."
Parscale, who had been a member of Trump's campaign since his first presidential run in 2016, likened Trump's comments on January 6 as "a sitting president asking for civil war."
He also suggested that Trump's words lead to the death of a rioter. Messages reveal that Pierson tried to push back, writing that "it wasn't the rhetoric," but Parscale firmly disagreed.
"Katrina," Parscale wrote. "Yes it was."
Parscale was demoted from his role as Trump's 2020 presidential campaign manager in July 2020. Months later, in September, he was hospitalized after he threatened to harm himself with a gun, police in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said. The former campaign manager had ten of his guns taken away after his wife, Candace Parscale, said that he had abused her — an officer noted that she had bruises on her arms as well as "scratches and bruising on her face."