Trump was 'pleased' watching riots even though he knew 'people could have been killed': NYT's Haberman

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman on Tuesday shocked CNN host Alisyn Camerota when she revealed that President Donald Trump was "pleased" watching his supporters riot at the United States Capitol building.

While appearing on CNN, Haberman disputed reports that Trump was simply transfixed like a toddler by TV images of his supporters violently attacking the Capitol, and she said the truth was much uglier: Namely, the president was enjoying what he was seeing.

"He was pleased because it was people fighting on his behalf," the New York Times reporter explained. "He was pleased because he liked the scene. He was pleased because it was delaying the certification of the electoral college vote."

Haberman added that the president "knew what was happening" but "just didn't want to do anything" to stop it.

"Did he understand that they could have been killed [in addition to the five people who died because of the riot]?" asked an incredulous Camerota. "Did he understand that they brought in those, you know, wrist ties and that, yeah, and that people could have been killed?"

Haberman said that Trump was receiving real-time updates about what was happening but was largely unmoved until he learned that the riot could negatively impact him personally.

"The only thing that really seemed to snap him out of it, according to my sources... is that he was told that he would have legal exposure based on what was going on because of what he said at the rally that preceded it," she said.

Watch the video below.