Crenshaw says Trump amped up Capitol mob: ‘People were lied to’

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) on Thursday chastised President Trump as well as his GOP colleagues in Congress for opposing the election results and inciting the violent breach in the Capitol the day before.

“All of the members who called for everyone to come and fight and make their last stand, all of those members were scattered like cowards while the Capitol Police had to do the fighting,” the former Navy SEAL told Hearst Newspapers on Thursday.

Lawmakers and staffers in the Capitol barricaded themselves or were evacuated as pro-Trump rioters broke into the Capitol, smashing windows and vandalizing offices. Though the siege delayed the vote certification for several hours, President-elect Joe Biden’s victory was confirmed by Congress early Thursday morning.

The Republican lawmaker also placed blame upon Trump, accusing the president and his allies of ramping the crowd up and not understanding how certain language could incite a crowd that has already been misled.

Crenshaw told the news outlet that he, like some of his GOP colleagues, did not like how some states had conducted their elections, but stated that Congress never had the authority to overturn the election and said lawmakers had given Trump supporters false hope.

He voted against the objections to the Electoral College vote in both Arizona and Pennsylvania. A majority of House GOP lawmakers supported both objections.

“These people have been lied to en masse by the millions,” said Crenshaw. “In the sense that they were led to believe Jan. 6 was anything but a political performance for a few opportunistic politicians to give a five-minute speech. That is all that it ever was. People were lied to.”

Crenshaw was among the 126 representatives who supported Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s unsuccessful attempt to challenge the election results in four other states. He said this was different from calling on people to march on the Capitol. The Supreme Court ultimately threw out this lawsuit.