Former US President Donald Trump returns to Washington on Tuesday for the first time since his controversial departure from the White House in 2021, under the shadow of chaos over the storming of the Capitol.
The tycoon, who is increasingly flirting openly with the idea of running for president in 2024, will appear at an event of the America First Policy Institute, a think tank run by his allies.
His speech will take place hours after the end of a series of public hearings of the House of Representatives committee investigating the attack on Capitol Hill on January 6, 2021. Its members insist on Trump’s responsibility in the attack.
The Republican claims, without evidence, that there was a fraud in the 2020 elections that Joe Biden won. The spokesman for the America First Policy Institute, however, said Trump will focus Tuesday on the future, not the past.
“He will give a political strategy speech,” Marc Lotter told CNN.
The hearings of the parliamentary investigation committee, which revealed the structure of the attack and the former president’s attempts to reverse the result of the elections to remain in power, seem to have harmed Trump.
Biden, who at the start of his presidency tried to avoid naming his predecessor, on Monday lambasted his inaction in the assault on Capitol Hill.
While Trump watched what was happening from the “comfort” of the White House, “brave policemen lived a hell worthy of the Middle Ages before a rampaging crowd that believed the lies of the defeated president,” he denounced.
– Critics –
Trump, 76, retains a central place in the Republican ranks with a core of loyal supporters, which would put him in the top spot if he decides to seek the presidency. But the criticism has taken a toll on his image, allowing rivals like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to gain ground. Nearly half of Republican primary voters would prefer another candidate over Trump, according to a recent poll by The New York Times and Siena College. Last week, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, owned by the influential Murdoch family, published editorials criticizing Trump’s behavior on January 6, 2021. In an unusually critical text, the New York Post claimed that the billionaire had proven himself “unworthy” of returning to the White House.