Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) warned Sunday that the Proud Boys and other militias heard former President Donald Trump’s new “call to arms” at his Texas rally this weekend.
On Saturday, Trump urged his supporters to launch “massive protests” if he’s prosecuted for any crimes ― such as election interference, for which he’s being investigated ― and offered to pardon Jan. 6 rioters if he’s reelected.
“If these radical, vicious, racist prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal, I hope we are going to have in this country the biggest protests we have ever had in Washington, D.C., in New York, in Atlanta and elsewhere, because our country and our elections are corrupt,” Trump said.
Lofgren, a member of the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection, compared Trump’s comments to the time he told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” during a presidential debate in 2020.
“Trump basically said to go fuck them up,” Proud Boys leader Joe Biggs later said in a chat on the right-wing social media platform Parler. “This makes me so happy.”
On CNN’s “Newsroom” on Sunday, Lofgren noted that the Proud Boys had a key role in organizing the U.S. Capitol riot, and that even Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) had said the Jan. 6 mob was “spun up” by Trump.
Now, with Trump’s latest remarks, the Proud Boys hear a new “call to arms,” Lofgren warned.
“I do think that we are in very dangerous territory with this rhetoric,” she said. “Those of us who are against chaos, those of us who believe in law and order, need to speak up strongly against this trend that the former president is encouraging.”
Lofgren also said she doesn’t worry about most Trump supporters, who voted for him and cheer him on.
“I do worry about the militias, some of these extremists groups,” she said.
Check out Lofgren’s full interview in the video clip above.