By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-20 23:16:42 | Updated at 2025-01-21 02:10:48
3 hours ago
Minutes after his second inaugural address concluded Donald Trump unloaded on his political enemies to a friendly overflow crowd and said his wife Melania got him to excise language calling January 6 defendants 'hostages.'
Speaking inside the Capitol Visitors Center, Trump weighed in on his reservations about bringing the inauguration inside, called Nancy Pelosi 'guilty as hell', and fumed about President Biden's pardon of Liz Cheney.
Trump didn't pull many punches in his inaugural speech, where he complained of 'vicious, violent and unfair weaponization of the Justice Department, delivered in a dry monotone while reading form a teleprompter.
But he brought even more to his second effort, which he delivered in a livelier tone sprinkled with jokes, asides, and vendettas.
'I decided I'm not going to make this speech complicated. I'm going to make it beautiful,' he said of his words inside the Capitol Rotunda for the TV audience and the history books.
But that didn't stop him from throwing even more bombs just steps away from where he addressed lawmakers and Supreme Court justices, while tech fans like Elon Musk looked on.
He threw even more bombs just steps away – this time calling the 2020 election 'totally rigged.' Trump said he think he could have won the state of California, which he lost by 20 per cent and 3 million votes.
He blasted Biden's 11th hour pardons for members of the House January 6 Committee, which probed the attack on the Capitol.
Just minutes after delivering his historic second inaugural speech, Trump walked down Emancipation Hall to the Capitol Visitors Center, where he said the 2020 election was 'rigged,' attacked Rep. Liz Cheney, and called January 6 defendants 'hostages'
'Why are we helping Liz Cheney? Liz Cheney is a disaster. She's a crying lunatic. And crying [former Rep.] Adam Kinzinger? He's a super cryer. I never saw the guy not crying. He's always crying,' Trump said.
Both Republicans probed his administration after January 6 and endorsed Kamala Harris, although Trump said their pressure was because he was peaceful.
'When you don't want to kill people in wars, they turn against you,' Trump said. 'Liz Cheney hated the concept of not going to war with everybody. Let's kill everybody,' he said.
His second speech, billed as just 10 minutes long, went on for 35 minutes. Trump, clearly enjoying himself, told the audience it was getting the superior unvarnished version to the big shots who were there in person.
'I think this was a better speech than the one I made upstairs,' said Trump, 78., speaking to a group that included governors and their spouses.
'You got the A-plus treatment', he told them, inquiring at one point whether the huge TV screen provided a good enough view. The hall is where visitors go to learn about the Capitol.
Trump referred to January 6 defendants as 'hostages,' with action set to come on pardons
Trump went after former Rep. Liz Cheney in his second speech, and blasted President Biden for pardoning her. He says advisors including his wife told him to nix some of his attacks
The line, like many of Trump's one-offs, got a laugh from the crowd, although there were about 10 rows of empty seats to his left as he spoke. As his remarks approached 30 minutes and he was still speaking, multiple guests donned their coats and left.
Trump reflected on the walk from upstairs under the dome, revealing first lady Melania Trump told him her feet were killing her.
He attacked former Trump White House staffer Cassidy Hutchinson, who testified that Trump lunched at a Secret Service agent inside 'the Beast' while demanding to go to the Capitol, where his supporters were gathering.
Trump called it 'made up fiction.'
'So I wanted to talk about that, but all of that stuff got deleted,' Trump said.
Then he accused former Speaker Nancy Pelosi of being at fault for the attack, claiming she refused to accept 10,000 soldiers he says he offered.
'No, she didn't like it. Maybe she wanted that to happen, but she's guilty as hell, and now we would have to go through the process, because they destroyed all evidence, they deleted everything, there's virtually nothing left,' Trump said.
So I decided I'm not going to make this speech complicated. I'm going to make it beautiful. I'm going to make it a unifying speech,' Trump said.
He said when he learned he would be addressing 'serious Trump fans,' he said 'this is the time to tell those stories.'
Trump said 'I was going to talk about the J6 hostages' – who he plans to pardon, although he hasn't provided specifics on where he will draw the line on a group that includes nonviolent offenders as well as people who bloodied police officers.
He indicated that his wife, as well as Vice President J.D. Vance, urged him to hold back.
'Please sir, it's such a beautiful unifying speech, please, sir, don't say these things,' Trump says advisors told him.
'Melania. She said "sir" – calls me "sir" when she's angry,' Trump observed. Then he tried to pull it back.
'I'd better say I'm only kidding or the press is going to bring that one up,' he continued.
Trump also revealed some of his inner conflicts about moving his inauguration indoors – abandoning months of planning, not to mention a huge reviewing stand that was constructed for the occasion.
Trump spoke about going outside for some of his earlier activities. 'We were freezing. You would have been very unhappy,' he told the overflow crowd. 'It gets a little cold this time of year,' he observed.
