A video showing the Trump family and senior White House members celebrating before Trump-inspired rioters besieged the Capitol building at his behest has emerged online.
The footage shows Donald Trump partying with his girlfriend, sister Ivanka, brother Eric, the president and other senior officials including White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.
Before the attack, Trump roused his supporters “to fight” and to “take back our country,” calling on them to march on the Capitol building.
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and I’ll be there with you,” he told them.
“You’ll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength, and you have to be strong. We have to fight”
Trump did not actually join the mob, but retreated to watch the ensuing chaos in private, reportedly delighting in the early moments of the violent scenes being carried out in his name.
The video shows the Trump family celebrating in a makeshift tent equiped with various monitors showing the crowds around the capital. The president, Ivanka and Eric can be seen watching the monitors closely a short while before the violence broke out.
In the clip, Don Trump Jnr turns the camera on himself and thanks the soon-to-be rioters for doing his father’s bidding.
He called the protesters “patriots” who were “sick of the bullsh*t” and repeatedly urged them to “fight”.
Online, the video has drawn widespread criticism with many positing the “premeditated” demeanour of the Trump family.
Watch:
Trump, Donald Jr, Kimberly Guilfoyle and others watching the crowd getting fired up hours before they stormed the Capitol, and dancing in enjoyment while the song Gloria is playing. Seems premeditated, no? pic.twitter.com/E6tHufOjiN
— Amy Siskind 🏳️🌈 (@Amy_Siskind) January 7, 2021