A majority of Americans view that former U.S. president Donald Trump abused his presidency and attempted to subvert a peaceful transfer of power, the White House has said.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters at her daily news conference on October 19 that Mr. Trump’s actions represented a unique and existential threat to the U.S. democracy that Americans do not feel can be swept under the rug.
“The view of the vast majority of Americans is that former President Trump abused the office of the presidency and attempted to subvert a peaceful transfer of power, something that had happened between Democratic and Republican presidencies for decades and decades throughout history,” Ms. Psaki said.
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“As President [Joe] Biden determined and as we have provided updates to all of you as our legal team has made evaluations, the constitutional protections of executive privilege should not be used to shield information that reflects a clear and apparent effort to subvert the Constitution itself,” Ms. Psaki added.
On January 6, in an unprecedented assault on democracy in America, thousands of angry supporters of ex-President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol and clashed with police, resulting in casualties and interrupting a constitutional process to affirm Mr. Biden’s victory in the presidential election.
The police, outnumbered by the maskless protesters, had a tough time in managing the mob, as hundreds of protesters breached security and entered the Capitol building, where members of the Congress were going through the process of counting and certifying the Electoral College votes Both the House and Senate and the entire Capitol were placed under lockdown. Former Vice-President Mike Pence and lawmakers were evacuated to safe locations.
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Mr. Trump — who lost the popular and electoral college vote — continued to dispute the results. He alleged that there was massive voters’ fraud and electoral malpractice. The election officials, however, denied the allegations.