Jan 6 committee members back Biden remarks on Trump ‘fascism’ after rally guest defends neo-Nazi rioter

Members of the committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot have condemned Donald Trump for his remarks at his rally this weekend – and for his giving platform to a speaker who defended a neo-Nazi convicted for his participation in the attack.

Mr Trump gave a two-hour speech on Saturday at the rally in Pennsylvania, in which he said relatively little about the Republican candidates he was ostensibly there to boost. His main focus was on his supposed persecution at the hands of law enforcement and “the swamp”, as well as recent criticism of the “Maga” movement from Joe Biden and others.

But most controversial of all was Cynthia Hughes, a campaigner for jailed 6 January defendants, who regaled the crowd with the story of her nephew, Tim Hale-Cusanelli.

A former Navy reservist, Mr Cusanelli infamously photographed himself dressed as Adolf Hitler and was the subject of multiple complaints from his colleagues; according to law enforcement, he once remarked of the Holocaust that Hitler “should have finished the job”.

He has denied making the comment, but has admitted attending the rally. Having been held in custody after a judge decided he might act on his various violent pronouncements, he was found guilty by a jury and is scheduled to be sentenced later this month.

Among those horrified to see speakers at a Trump rally defending an avowed neo-Nazi were the members of the January 6 committee, who have detailed in their hearings how extremist individuals and groups played a key role in the riot at Mr Trump’s instigation.

Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren, who led one of the select committee’s hearings this summer, opined that by hosting a defence of Cusanelli at his rally, Mr Trump had demonstrated that Joe Biden was right when he warned that the “Maga” wing of the Republican Party is developing the traits of a fascist movement.

“When President Biden warned there are some elements in this extreme group that are semi-fascist, maybe he didn’t need to use ‘semi’,” she told CNN. “Being a supporter of Adolf Hitler does put you in the Fascist category; there is no semi about it. I do think this is troubling.”

On CBS News’s Face the Nation, Ms Lofgren’s colleague Jamie Raskin – who led the Democratic team in Mr Trump’s post-riot impeachment trial – reiterated that the president’s warning of creeping fascism on the right was accurate.

“Two of the hallmarks of a fascist political party are one, they don’t accept the results of elections that don’t go their way and two, they embrace political violence,” he said. “And I think that’s why President Biden was right to sound the alarm this week about these continuing attacks on our constitutional order from the outside by Donald Trump and his movement.”

The select committee is reportedly set to hold further hearings this fall after being inundated with new evidence and witness statements during and after its televised summer sessions.

A timetable has yet to be announced, but the possibility that the House might revert to Republican control in January means the panel may have just a few months to complete its work and release a full report before being wound up by a new leadership.