A new report from NBC News claims that former President Donald Trump held a fundraiser to raise money to pay for Capitol rioters' legal expenses -- and even falsely blamed the riots on left-wing "Antifa" infiltrators.
According to the report, Trump held the fundraiser for the Patriot Freedom Project at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
While there, the former president spoke sympathetically toward many of the people who had violently stormed the United States Capitol in his name and said he would personally make a contribution to help pay for their legal defenses.
"You have police officers, you have firemen, you have teachers, you have electricians, you have great people, and they’ve been made to pay a price — in many cases, not all cases," said Trump, who then spouted "false claims that 'BLM and Antifa' were behind the Capitol attack."
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Trump was impeached for his role in inciting his supporters to riot at the Capitol, and he has increasingly come to embrace the rioters despite condemning their actions under pressure from his own administration the day after the attack.
Trump has pledged to pardon many of the rioters if he is reelected as president and the NBC report notes that his rallies "have featured the song 'Justice for All,' Trump’s version of the national anthem with the 'J6 choir' of inmates awaiting trial for their roles in the insurrection."
