Trump defends his Jan 6 speech before Capitol attack; calls it appropriate

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his speech on January 6 after which thousands of his supporters stormed Capitol Hill, which is now seen as one of the darkest days in American history.

If you read my speech--and many people have done it, and I've seen it both in the papers and in the media, on television--it's been analyzed and people thought that what I said was totally appropriate, Trump told reporters at the White House.

And if you look at what other people have said--politicians at a high level--about the riots during the summer, the horrible riots in Portland and Seattle and various other places, that was a real problem, what they said, said the outgoing US President.

Trump was responding to questions on violence on the Capitol Hill on January 6 by his supporters wherein they stormed the building, disrupted the constitutional proceedings of counting and certifying electoral college votes and indulged in vandalism.

His opponents, experts and many from his own party attribute this to his speech. Trump denied that.

On January 6, Trump in his speech alleged that the November 3rd elections was stolen.

All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by a bold and radical left Democrats which is what they are doing and stolen by the fake news media. That is what they have done and what they are doing. We will never give up. We will never concede, Trump told thousands of his supporters.

It doesn't happen. You don't concede when there's theft involved. Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore, and that is what this is all about. And to use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal, he said. During his speech, he asked his supporters to march to the US Capitol.

We're going to walk down. Anyone you want, but I think right here, we're going to walk down to the Capitol..And we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women and we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them, he said. Because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated. Lawfully slated, said the president. I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. Today, we will see whether Republicans stand strong for integrity of our elections. But whether or not they stand strong for our country, our country. Our country has been under siege for a long time. Far longer than this four-year period, Trump said during his speech.