- Former President Donald Trump says he's holding a news conference at Mar-a-Lago on January 6, 2022.
- Trump announced the event, which falls on the anniversary of the Capitol siege, in a statement on Tuesday.
- Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced plans to commemorate the day as well.
Former President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he will be hosting a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida on January 6, exactly one year after a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol.
"Why isn't the Unselect Committee of highly partisan political hacks investigating the CAUSE of the January 6th protest, which was the rigged Presidential Election of 2020?" Trump wrote in a statement.
Trump was apparently referring to the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, which has interviewed at least 300 people and recently uncovered shocking text messages from Donald Trump Jr., Fox News hosts, and lawmakers to former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows on the day of the attack.
The former president went on to say that the committee wants to "stay as far away from" claims of a rigged 2020 presidential election as possible, before asking supporters to "look at what is going on now" in several US states, though it was unclear what Trump was referring to.
He went on to castigate "RINOs" — an acronym for "Republican in Name Only" — presumably referring to his opponents within the party, such as Republican Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger, who sit on the January 6 committee.
"In many ways a RINO is worse than a Radical Left Democrat," Trump said, "because you don't know where they are coming from and you have no idea how bad they really are for our Country."
"The good news is there are fewer and fewer RINOs left as we elect strong Patriots who love America," he added. Trump has endorsed a primary challenger to Cheney, while he and other Republicans have moved to punish 13 House Republicans who bucked party leadership and voted for a bipartisan infrastructure bill in November.
"I will be having a news conference on January 6th at Mar-a-Lago to discuss all of these points, and more," he concluded. "Until then, remember, the insurrection took place on November 3rd, it was the completely unarmed protest of the rigged election that took place on January 6th."
In contrast to Trump's claims, many of his supporters were armed when they stormed the Capitol nearly a year ago. Roughly 140 officers were injured in the attack, while 5 people died on that day. Officer Michael Fanone, a DC police officer who responded to the riot, detailed in July how he was dragged and beaten unconscious by Trump loyalists.
Over 700 people have been charged in connection with the riot.
Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced in a "Dear Colleague" letter on Monday that Congress would seek to commemorate the events of that day with a "full program of events."
Those events, according to Pelosi, will include a discussions with historians about "the narrative of that day," a chance for members of Congress to share experiences and reflections from that day, and vigils. She also said the events will be livestreamed.
"As always, we will continue to work with the House Historian to establish and preserve our records in this regard," Pelosi said.
The White House has also said it plans to commemorate that day, though no details have been provided as of now. The US Senate is scheduled to be in session on January 6, though at least one senator has expressed reservations about those plans.
