Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) condemned Donald Trump for stirring supporters into rioting at the U.S.Capitol with a damning comparison to Osama bin Laden.
Swalwell, in an interview with PBS News’ Judy Woodruff, suggested Trump radicalized and incited his base just as the mastermind of the Sept. 11 terror attacks had done with his followers.
“Osama bin Laden did not enter U.S. soil on Sept. 11, but it was widely acknowledged he was responsible for inspiring the attack on our country,” Swalwell said on Tuesday. Trump was impeached on Wednesday for inciting the violence in Washington that shocked the world and left five people dead, including a police officer.
“And the president, with his words, using the words ‘fight,’ with the speakers that he assembled that day, who called for ‘trial by combat’ and said we have to ‘take names and kick ass’, that is hate speech that inspired and radicalized people to storm the Capitol,” Swalwell declared.
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Woodruff asked Swalwell if he was comparing Trump to bin Laden, who U.S. forces killed in 2011.
“I’m comparing the words of an individual who would incite and radicalize somebody, as Osama bin Laden did, to what President Trump did,” the lawmaker replied. “You don’t actually have to commit the violence yourself, but if you call others to violence, that itself is a crime.”