Hillary Clinton says Putin may have known about the Capitol riot

Hillary Clinton has suggested President Trump was ‘talking to Vladimir Putin on the day of the Capitol riot’ and said she would ‘love to see his phone records’.  

In a conversation with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on her podcast ‘You and Me Both’, Clinton said she would be interested in obtaining Trump’s phone records to see whether he was on the phone to Putin while the Capitol was under siege.

Clinton, who lost to Trump in the 2016 election, said that it was clear that her former rival has a ‘disdain for democracy’, but that its true depths may never be known.

She claimed that the president had ‘other agendas’ while in the White House, and said she hopes that one day it will become clear who Trump was ‘beholden to’ and who ‘pulls his strings’. 

‘We learned a lot about our system of government over the last four years with a president who disdains democracy and, as you have said numerous times, has other agendas,’ Clinton said. 

‘What they all are, I don’t think we yet know. I hope historically we will find out who he’s beholden to, who pulls his strings. I would love to see his phone records to see whether he was talking to Putin the day that the insurgents invaded our Capitol. 

‘But we now know that not just him, but his enablers, his accomplices, his cult members, have the same disregard for democracy.’

Clinton then asked Pelosi whether she believes a 9/11-style commission should be set up to investigate what led up to the deadly riots on January 6, that saw the deaths of five people – including a police officer.

‘I don’t know what Putin has on him politically, financially, or personally, but what happened last week was a gift to Putin, because Putin wants to undermine democracy in our country and throughout the world,’ Pelosi explained. 

‘And these people, unbeknownst to them, maybe, are Putin puppets. They were doing Putin’s business when they did that at the incitement of an insurrection by the president of the United States.

‘So yes, we should have a 9/11 commission and there is strong support in the Congress to do that,’ she said.

The House Speaker recalled that in the now-infamous photograph of her pointing at Trump was her alleging ‘With you, Mr. President, all roads lead to Putin.’

After four years, Trump now has just one day left in the White House, with president-elect Joe Biden set to be inaugurated tomorrow (January 20).

But the suggestion from a former Secretary of State that a sitting president conspired with a foreign leader during a tumultuous time in the country’s democracy perhaps demonstrates just how divided Republicans and Democrats are. 

Conservative commentator Byron York retweeted the interview, writing: ‘There was a House investigation. A Senate investigation. A special prosecutor investigation with the full powers of law enforcement. Obsessive media inquiries. None found what Hillary Clinton wanted to find. So she wants another…’

In 2019, The Mueller report – an official report documenting the findings of an investigation into Russian efforts to interfere with the 2016 presidential election, as well allegations of conspiracy or coordination between Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and Russia, and allegations of obstruction of justice – was released. 

It concluded that there was not sufficient evidence that the Trump campaign ‘coordinated or conspired with the Russian government in its election-interference activities,’ and with regards to obstruction of justice, the report said the investigation ‘does not conclude that the President committed a crime’; however, ‘it also does not exonerate him’.

Clinton said the breach of the Capitol earlier this month was an ‘invasion’ while Congress was ‘doing the work of Democracy’ in certifying the 2020 election.

Pro-Trump protesters stormed the Capitol building as lawmakers worked to certify the Electoral College and to finally confirm Joe Biden as the next president of the United States, sparking an evacuation of both chambers.

Earlier this month, Clinton backed a second impeachment of the President. On January 14, Trump become the first president in U.S. history to be impeached twice.

Writing in an op-ed in the Washington Post, Clinton said the Capitol riot was ‘was the tragically predictable result of white-supremacist grievances’ that she said were fed by Trump’s rhetoric,’ and that even after Trump has left office, the root of the problem that led to the riots – White Supremacy – would remain.

‘Removing Trump from office is essential, and I believe he should be impeached,’ Clinton wrote. 

‘Members of Congress who joined him in subverting our democracy should resign, and those who conspired with the domestic terrorists should be expelled immediately. But that alone won’t remove white supremacy and extremism from America.’

January 6 saw a violent mob of MAGA supportes storm the Capitol, breaking through police barricades and smashing windows to enter the building.

Lawmakers were forced to go into hiding for several hours as Capitol police grappled to take back control while the mob rioted in the Senate and House, invaded Nancy Pelosi’s office and looted items potentially including state secrets. 

One female Trump supporter, US Air Force veteran Ashli Babbitt, was shot dead by Capitol Police as she tried to climb through a window. 

Three other Trump supporters died after ‘medical emergencies’ related to the breach and Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick died the following day from injuries sustained in the attack after the thug allegedly hit him over the head with a fire extinguisher. 

Many people have already been arrested and prosecutors across the U.S. have vowed to bring to justice those who stormed the U.S. Capitol, sending lawmakers into hiding as they began their work to affirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.

The group included white nationalists, neo-Nazis and QAnon conspiracy theorists, coming from states as far-flung as Arizona and Oregon, while photographs from the riot have shown people wearing clothes with a range of antisemitic messages.