Kaitlan Collins wasn’t having it with Trump attorney Scott Gessler after he falsely claimed that the former president attempted to prevent the deadly Jan. 6, 2021 attack by authorizing the National Guard to the Capitol that day.
The CNN anchor, on Friday, brought up the Colorado judge who found that Trump engaged in insurrection but rejected an attempt to bar him from the state’s primary ballot in 2024.
Collins asked Gessler, former Colorado Secretary of State, if he disputed anything the judge laid out about Trump’s behavior on the day of the insurrection before Gessler replied with the evidence-free claim.
“Absolutely. He did not act with intent or specific intent at all. We thought the evidence was very clear, that he made efforts to ensure he authorized the National Guard, to make sure that they were available to prevent this type of violence. If you look at his actual tweets–,” he said before the anchor chimed in.
“He didn’t authorize the National Guard that day,” she said.
“He did. He did,” Gessler insisted.
Trump has falsely claimed that he pushed for 10,000 to 20,000 troops to quell the violence at the Capitol. The debunked claim has been challenged by Christopher Miller, acting secretary of defense on the day of the attack, who said in a Jan. 6 committee testimony that there wasn’t any order from Trump.
Trump has also pointed the finger at then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for having “turned down the offer” to deploy troops to Washington.
“If she didn’t turn down the soldiers, you wouldn’t have had January 6th,” Trump told “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker in September despite Pelosi not controlling requests for the National Guard at the time.
Collins later hit back at Gessler’s insistence to spew the claim anyways on live TV.
“Well, Kash Patel – his former aide – testified that as one of your witnesses here. But when he was asked for any documentation or any evidence that Trump had done that, he didn’t provide any,” she noted.
You can check out Gessler’s response starting around the 6:16 mark in the clip below.
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