CNN —
Democratic Reps. Adam Schiff and Nancy Trump, despite efforts by President Donald Trump’s Republican allies to argue that his previous comments labeling his political opponents as such have been misconstrued. Each called Pelosi the “enemy from within.”
“These guys are bad guys. We have a lot of bad guys. But when you look at ‘Shifty Schiff’ and some of the others, yeah, to me they’re the enemy from within,” Trump said. said in an interview on Fox News’ “Media Buzz” that aired Sunday.
FOX News’ Howard Kurtz gave President Trump a chance to clarify: “He’s your political opponent, but is he your enemy?” To this, President Trump responded, “Of course he is the enemy, he is the enemy.”
President Trump also called Pelosi the “enemy from within” and falsely claimed on January 6, 2021, that the then-Speaker of the House had an opportunity to protect the Capitol.
“I think Nancy Pelosi is an enemy from within,” he said. “She was supposed to protect the Capitol.” He also falsely claimed that he “offered her 10,000 National Guard troops,” but that the California Democratic Party “didn’t accept it.”
CNN previously reported that the former president’s claims about January 6 were false. Although the Speaker of the House is not responsible for security at the Capitol, security at the Capitol is the responsibility of the Capitol Police Board, which oversees the Capitol Police and approves requests for National Guard assistance.
Chris Miller, Trump’s former acting secretary of defense, also told lawmakers that he had not received formal orders from Trump to send 10,000 troops to the Capitol on January 6. There was no direct order.” Miller said.
In a separate interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures” last week, Trump suggested using the military to deal with what he called “the enemy from within” on Election Day. “I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within, not people coming in to destroy our country.”
“We have some very bad people. We have sick people,” President Trump told host Maria Bartiromo in the interview, “radical left lunatics,” adding later, “We need them. If so, I think it should be dealt with very easily by the National Guard or, if it’s really necessary, by the military, because they can’t do it.” ”
Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has capitalized on Trump’s rhetoric, using words from the former president himself and former aides to paint him as dangerous and unstable. Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have highlighted the “enemy within” rhetoric at rallies across the country, and her campaign has released a new ad featuring quotes from the former president.
In the days since, the former president’s Republican allies have argued that Trump was not actually talking about his political opponents and that his remarks had been misinterpreted.
For example, earlier Sunday, House Speaker Mike Johnson claimed for the first time that the former president was referring to criminal organizations and transnational gangs.
“What he’s talking about is gang attacks,” Johnson told CNN’s Jake Tapper when asked about Trump’s proposal to deploy the military against “the enemy from within.”
But when Tapper countered that Trump was referring to Democrats like Schiff, Johnson said Trump was not talking about using military force against political opponents.
“I didn’t hear President Trump say he would denounce Adam Schiff to the military in that video. That’s not what he was saying. You get two different clips in two different contexts. ,” Johnson said.
The Louisiana Republican later added: “He’s not Jake, no, he’s not. No, he’s talking about using the National Guard and the military to keep peace on the streets.”
And Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin told Tapper last week: They’re committing crimes, they’re bringing in drugs, they’re trafficking people, they’re turning every state into a border state. ”
Tapper pointed out that Trump was not talking about immigrants, but about the “radical left.” Tapper also noted that Trump specifically mentioned Schiff by name in an interview late last week, saying that while the former president can deal with foreign adversaries, “the one thing that’s hard to deal with is… These are the Adam Schiff-like lunatics among us…completely despicable human beings.” I’m planning to become a senator. But I call him the enemy from within. ”
This article and its heading have been updated with additional reporting.
CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, Eric Bradner, Ari Main, Daniel Dale and Zachary B. Wolf contributed to this report.
