Former President Trump appeared to mix up former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley and Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Friday during a rally in New Hampshire, while discussing the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
““Look at all the people back there — you got a lot of people. This is supposed to be a quaint little area. This is not quaint at all,” Trump told a crowd of supporters in Concord, N.H., remarking about the crowd size, adding later. “You know when [Haley] comes here she gets like nine people, and the press never reports the crowds you know.”
“By the way, they never report the crowd on Jan. 6. You know Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, Nikki Haley, you know, they — do you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it. All of it,” Trump baselessly claimed. “Because of lots of things … like Nikki Haley is in charge of security — we offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guards, whatever they want. They turned it down. They don’t want to talk about that. These are very dishonest people.”
During his remarks, Trump appeared to mix up Haley for the former House Speaker. However, Pelosi’s office has pushed back against Republicans’ allegations positing the blame on the security of the Capitol under her leadership on the day of the riot.
“On Jan. 6th, the Speaker, a target of an assassination attempt that day, was no more in charge of Capitol security than Mitch McConnell was,” then-Pelosi spokesperson Drew Hammill explained to The Associated Press in July 2021. “This is a clear attempt to whitewash what happened on Jan. 6th and divert blame.”
The National Guard isn’t directed by the House Speaker.
Footage played during one of the hearings conducted by the House select committee investigation the Jan. 6 insurrection also showed Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) speaking with Cabinet members and governors regarding the Capitol attack.
President Biden’s campaign taunted Trump over the apparent mix-up.
“A deeply confused Trump confuses Nancy Pelosi and Nikki Haley multiple times: Nikki Haley was in charge on January 6,” they wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “They don’t want to talk about that.”