Trump campaign manager Chris LaCivita liked and shared tweets in 2021 criticizing Donald Trump’s false voter fraud claims and calling the Jan. 6 riot an “insurrection,” CNN reports—a contrast with Trump, who has called Jan. 6, 2021, a “day of love” and defended many of the participants.
WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 19: An image of former President Donald Trump is displayed as members of ... [+]
One post reportedly shared by LaCivita—and later removed from his X account—was a statement by former President George W. Bush, saying, “the violent assault on the Capitol – and disruption of a Constitutionally-mandated meeting of Congress – was undertaken by people whose passions have been inflamed by falsehoods and false hopes.”
Another post from Jan. 6, 2021, shared by LaCivita and discovered by CNN called the rioters “thugs.”
The liked posts include a statement from former Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., that said, “the Cabinet needs to lock [Trump] down for the next 14 days. #25thAmendmentNow,” referring to an amendment that authorizes the vice president to take over for an incapacitated president, CNN reported, citing a video recording and an unnamed source.
He also reportedly interacted with a post from journalist John McCormack that called the attack a “disgusting tragedy,” saying “someone literally lost their life because of a lie that Trump told.”
LaCivita told CNN in a statement, “retweets and likes are not endorsements.” Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s national press secretary, said in a statement to Forbes the tweets are a “nonsense story” and aren’t an “issue voters care about in the election 13 days away.” Leavitt added that “President Trump has put together a world class team wholly focused on winning on November 5.”
The Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021—which took place after a raucous rally in which Trump repeated false voter fraud allegations and urged Congress to toss out his election loss—is one of the most controversial moments of Trump’s career, triggering Trump’s second impeachment and a slew of legal battles. Immediately after the attack, Trump was critical of rioters and called it a “heinous attack” but later defended many of the riot arrestees, claiming they were mistreated and looking to offer “full pardons with an apology to many.”Since 2021, Trump has begun to call Jan. 6 a “day of love” and minimized the violence of the event, falsely claiming in the debate with President Joe Biden in July it was a “peaceful” and “relatively small group of people” that were “ushered in by the police.” Trump has also often looked to reframe the event, saying his jailed supporters are like Japanese-Americans forced to live in internment camps.
Trump has also spread false claims about the riot, at one point sharing a Truth Social post that said Jan. 6 “will go down in history as the day the government staged a riot to cover up the fact that they certified a fraudulent election.” There is no evidence the riot was “staged.”