When a moderator asked Donald J. Trump about Jan. 6, 2021, at the presidential debate, the former president slipped immediately into a now-familiar revisionist history of the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
He falsely claimed that he had nothing to do with the assault, blaming it on former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the police officers who protected the building that day against a mob of his supporters.
But then Mr. Trump made a brief but telling remark: He used the pronoun “we” to describe some of the rioters, grammatically placing himself among those who have been charged with storming into the Capitol.
“We didn’t do —” Mr. Trump started to say before he began again: “This group of people that have been treated so badly.”
transcript
During the presidential debate on Tuesday, Donald J. Trump was questioned about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Ashli Babbitt was shot by an out-of-control police officer that should have never, ever shot her. It’s a disgrace. But we didn’t do — this group of people that have been treated so badly. I ask, what about all the people that are pouring into our country and killing people that she allowed to pour in?
It was a fleeting moment, but one that captured Mr. Trump’s reluctance to part ways with the final explosive act of his presidency, even in a general election in which it offers little political upside.