Former President Donald Trump will hold a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Florida on Jan. 6, he announced Tuesday.
Trump’s conference marks the one-year anniversary of the pro-Trump storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2020. Trump’s event is likely to clash with President Joe Biden’s White House, which has also announced plans to commemorate the Jan. 6 riots in its own event. (RELATED: CNN Floats 11 Democratic Candidates Who Could Replace Biden In 2024)
Trump announces he will have a news conference on January 6th at Mar-a-Lago
— Meridith McGraw (@meridithmcgraw) December 21, 2021
Biden has repeatedly called the attack one of the “darkest days” in history for American democracy. The attack has been thrust back to the forefront due to the impending anniversary as well as revelations that various Fox News hosts had urged Trump via text messages to condemn the attack on the day of the event.
Fox News hosts, including Laura Ingraham and Sean Hannity, sent the impassioned messages to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, who’s brief cooperation with the congressional committee investigating the Capitol riots resulted in the messages becoming public.
His texts also reveal that Donald Trump Jr. urged his father to denounce the riots.
“He’s got to condemn this shit ASAP. The Capitol Police tweet is not enough,” Trump Jr. wrote. “We need an Oval office address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand.”