Condoleezza Rice on Jan. 6: Americans have ‘other concerns we should be talking about’

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday suggested that Americans have “concerns” other than talking about the riot led by supporters of former President Trump that took place at the Capitol on Jan. 6 amid the congressional probe into the incident.

“Our institutions have to be upheld,” Rice said Wednesday while appearing as a guest host on ABC’s “The View.”

“What happened on Jan. 6 was wrong. I don’t know how much more strongly I can say that what happened on Jan. 6 was wrong. I also know that as a government and as a country, we’ve got to be concerned about the things that are making life hard for Americans and hard for American families,” she added. 

The American people “do have other concerns we should be talking about,” Rice said. 

Sunny Hostin, one of the show’s co-hosts, interjected by saying that an overwhelming majority of Republican voters have indicated in polling they’d like to see Trump run again in 2024. 

“Unless I can see the questions that were in that poll, unless I can see the assumptions that were in that poll, I’m not going to take for granted that that poll is correct,” Rice responded. 

Sec. @CondoleezzaRice: “Our institutions have to be upheld.”

“What happened on January 6th was wrong. I also know that as a government and as a country, we’ve got to be concerned about the things that are making life hard for Americans and hard for American families.” pic.twitter.com/GGA3FGfu3J

— The View (@TheView) October 20, 2021

Trump and his allies have defended the people who were involved in the attack on the Capitol and have described the event as “peaceful.”  

Rice, a Republican who served as head of the State Department under former President George W. Bush and now runs the Hoover Institution, said she hopes to see the GOP moving forward with new leaders who “step up.”

“I want those of us who have been there, done that to step back, and I want to move on to a better America,” she added.  

Congress earlier this year established a commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack and find out to what extent, if any, Trump’s White House played a role in fanning the flames of the violence that broke out that day.

Trump-loyal Republicans in Congress have dismissed the probe, as political and Trump’s legal team has refused to cooperate with congressional investigators, citing executive privilege.

On Tuesday night, the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack voted unanimously to refer former Trump White House strategist Stephen Bannon to the Justice Department for criminal charges after he refused to provide documents to the committee or appear for a slated deposition.