Rep. Jamie Raskin said on CNN that an “assassination party” was “hunting” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during the siege of the Capitol.
“There was an assassination party hunting for Nancy Pelosi,” Raskin told Jake Tapper Sunday morning. “So, this cannot be at the level of normal partisan push and pull and just kind of throwing rhetorical bricks back and forth. This was an attack on our country.”
“They built a gallows outside the Capitol of the United States,” he added, saying protesters also wanted to “hang Mike Pence.”
Pro-Trump protesters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 after the president delivered a speech reiterating his belief that the presidential election was “stolen” from him.
Federal prosecutors had said there was “strong evidence” that the protesters intended to “capture and assassinate elected officials,” but later said there no “direct evidence” of that.
The House voted to impeach Trump for the second time last week due to the violent protest, while Twitter permanently banned him from the platform, and Facebook and Instagram announced temporary bans.
The president subsequently repeatedly denounced the storming of the Capitol and called on his supporters to protest peacefully.
