Controversial Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) is under fire after she accused House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) of being "complicit" in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
At least five people died after a mob whipped up by Trump's false claims of a stolen election ransacked the seat of US democracy in a thwarted bid to prevent the transfer of power to President Joe Biden.
"1,000 people have been charged for J6, with possibly 1,000’s more to be charged. Most of these people were nonviolent. But Nancy Pelosi refused to bring in the National Guard ignoring Intel briefs & requests for the NG by Capitol Police and Pres Trump. Pelosi is complicit," Greene tweeted on Christmas Eve.
Authorities say some 140 officers were assaulted during the riot. Around 900 people have been arrested on suspicion of taking part in the attack and more than 800 have been charged with crimes ranging from trespass and assaulting police to seditious conspiracy.
IN OTHER NEWS: Trump's Christmas meltdown continues as he flips out over 'disgraceful' new election protections
Greene's tweet drew a considerable amount of backlash from other Twitter users.
"This seems to be the agreed upon defense: It’s Pelosi’s fault for not anticipating Trump’s violent coup attempt. (Never mind that Pelosi has no authority over the National Guard, etc.)," wrote HuffPost White House correspondent S.V. Date.
"They were looking to kill Pelosi," noted Michael J. Stern, an opinion columnist at USA Today. "Pelosi does not control the National Guard. Trump did not sign an ,"order directing them to the Capitol. Won't lying like this on Christmas eve get you damned to hell...again?"
"So democrats won the election and were in congress for the certification of the official results anointing Biden president and they decided to secretly try to overthrow themselves to stop it to make trump look bad while he happened to be down the street telling people to do that?" wondered Condé Nast editor Luke Zaleski.
Some Twitter users offered less explanatory reactions to Greene's accusations. "Are you stupid or what," replied one such user to Greene's tweet.
Pelosi's chief of staff blasted Greene earlier this month after she levelled similar claims against the prominent Democratic congresswoman.
"More lies. More threats of political violence. Where is Kevin McCarthy? He’s groveling to this extreme MAGA element of his party in an effort to become the weakest Speaker of the House in history," wrote Drew Hammill on Twitter, after Greene claimed that Pelosi was "directly to blame for the security failures at the Capitol" and "must pay the price."
The House select committee tasked with investigating the January 6 attack recently released their final report in which they argue that Trump should never be allowed to run for public office again after inciting an insurrection.
The recommendation led a list of proposals from the 845-page document aimed at ensuring there is no repeat of the deadly riot the ex-president is accused of orchestrating in a failed bid to cling to power after losing the 2020 election.
"Our country has come too far to allow a defeated president to turn himself into a successful tyrant by upending our democratic institutions (and) fomenting violence," the panel's chairman Bennie Thompson said in an introduction to the report, released late Thursday.
The document urges lawmakers to legislate so that Trump and others who "engaged in insurrection" can be barred from holding office -- "whether federal or state, civilian or military."
It was the culmination of 18 months of work by congressional investigators who interviewed more than 1,000 witnesses to establish the primary cause of the attack, which they blamed squarely on the Republican billionaire.
The committee also recommended reforms of election law, a federal crackdown on extremist groups and the designation of Congress's certification of presidential elections as a "national special security event" on a par with the annual State of the Union address.
It was the panel's final act before it is disbanded as the House of Representatives switches to Republican control in January.
With additional reporting by AFP