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Washington DC, United States
Former United States President Donald Trump on Thursday (Oct 17) described the January 6 riot at the US Capitol as a "day of love", days before the November 5 presidential elections.
Trump during a campaign event, claimed the thousands of people who travelled to Washington DC that day did so because "they thought the election was a rigged election”.
On January 6, 2021 a mob of Trump supporters breached the US Capitol building in an effort to stop the certification of current US President Joe Biden's win in the 2020 presidential elections, forcing lawmakers to flee.
Several people died amid the riot, including a police officer.
The former US president has repeatedly and falsely claimed that the 2020 presidential election was "stolen" from him and that the polls were rigged to favour Biden.
Also read: First rioter to enter US Capitol sentenced to 53 months
Trump, during his "town hall" event in Miami, Florida, was challenged to win back the vote of a man who said he had been disturbed by what happened after the Republicans lost the 2020 elections.
"Nothing done wrong at all," Trump said, adding, "There were no guns down there. We didn’t have guns. The others had guns, but we didn’t have guns. And when I say we, these are people that walked down — this was a tiny percentage of the overall which nobody sees and nobody, nobody shows. But that was a day of love."
He further recalled addressing a group of "hundreds of thousands" people during a speech in Washington DC.
Watch | US: Donald Trump returns to Capitol Hill to discuss poll, stresses party unity
"They didn't come because of me," he said. "They came because of the election. They thought the election was a rigged election, and that's why they came."
Kamala Harris hits out at Trump's comment
Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris took to X, and reacting to Trump's statement, said, "Donald Trump incited an attack on our nation’s democracy because he didn’t like the outcome of the election."
"If January 6 was a bridge too far, there is a place for you in our campaign," she added.
(With inputs from agencies)