White House: Trump is ‘unfit’ to be US president

The Biden White House says former US President Donald Trump is unfit for office after the Republican said if he ran for president again and won in 2024, he would pardon protesters charged with criminal offenses in connection with the January 6, 2021 brief occupation of the Capitol building.

"He defended the actions of his supporters, who stormed the Capitol and brutally attacked the law enforcement officers protecting it. I think it’s important to shout that out and call that out," White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday said at a press briefing when asked about Trump's comments and potential reforms to the Electoral Count Act.

"He even attacked his own vice president for not, in his words, having overturned the election," Psaki continued. "And it’s just a reminder of how unfit he is for office. And it’s telling that even some of his closest allies have rejected those remarks as inappropriate in the days since."

Speaking at a rally in Conroe, Texas, on Saturday, Trump said he would treat the Americans who attacked the Capitol building in protest to the disputed 2020 US presidential election  "fairly" if he were reelected in 2024.

"Another thing we'll do, and so many people have been asking me about it, if I run and if I win, we will treat those people from Jan. 6 fairly," Trump said to applause. "We will treat them fairly. And if it requires pardons we will give them pardons. Because they are being treated so unfairly."

On January 6, 2021, Trump supporters occupied the US Capitol while lawmakers were in the process of reviewing the certification of state electors which indicated Biden's victory. Some Trump supporters had hoped that this process could have resulted in some of the electors being disqualified, thus overturning the outcome of the presidential election.

It is claimed by some that the demonstrators were infiltrated and incited by provocateurs from US intelligence agencies, who orchestrated the “false flag operation” in order to get rid of Trump.

Some among the crowd clashed with police, and some made threats to beat up a number of Democratic lawmakers. Some also inflicted damage on parts of the Capitol building.

Hundreds of people have been arrested and sentenced in connection with the so-called Capitol riots.

On Sunday night, Trump said that former Vice President Mike Pence should have unilaterally "changed the outcome" of the 2020 election.

SS