New Trump Senior Press Aide Criticized His Actions After Jan. 6 Coup Attempt
HuffPost
Tim Murtaugh is a rare top campaign official who has blamed Trump for the Capitol assault that caused 140 police officer injuries and led to five officer deaths.
An aide recently installed into a top Donald Trump campaign job excoriated the former president for his behavior during his Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt, particularly his lack of concern for the death of a Capitol police officer hours after the man was assaulted by Trump’s mob.
Tim Murtaugh, the former president’s campaign communications director for his failed 2020 reelection bid, was hired by the 2024 campaign this summer and earlier this month reportedly was promoted to run the communications effort.
In so doing, Murtaugh becomes possibly the only top campaign staffer who criticized Trump for his actions and inactions on that day either publicly or through those criticisms becoming public.
“Shitty not to have acknowledged the death of the Capitol Police officer,” Murtaugh wrote to a colleague in a Jan. 9, 2021, text message revealed by the House select committee that investigated Jan. 6. “You know what that is, of course, if he acknowledged the dead cop, he’d be implicitly faulting the mob. And he won’t do that, because they’re his people. And he would also be close to acknowledging that what he lit at the rally got out of control. No way he acknowledges something that could ultimately be called his fault. No way.”
In a sworn deposition before the committee, Murtaugh called Trump’s mob “criminal” and “unpatriotic” ― a marked contrast to his then and now boss, Trump, who has promised to pardon those prosecuted for their actions on Jan. 6, including the hundreds who have been charged with assaulting police officers.
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