Congressman Murphy says President Trump partially responsible for Capitol violence

GREENVILLE, N.C. (WITN) - Republican Congressman Greg Murphy says that he holds President Trump responsible for Wednesday’s violence that erupted at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

WITN spoke with Murphy this morning from Washington, D.C.

We asked the congressman about the president’s rhetoric fueled rally in the run-up to the attack on the Capitol and if he holds the president responsible.

“In a lot of ways, I do. We’re a nation of peaceful protest. That’s one of the foundations of our democracy. Now I do believe there were certain people in that crowd that were there to do violence. I think the vast, vast majority of individuals were there to protest peacefully which is our right. But I do believe there were elements within that crowd whether they were pro-Trump, whether they were Antifa, or other elements that were there to be violent and try to do harm to the nation’s capital. And it’s an exceedingly difficult mar on the nation’s history,” Murphy said.

Murphy did not have proof that Antifa was involved in the attack but said, “that will come out in the days to come.”

We asked if he believes the president should resign over what happened. The congressman says he does not know what a resignation this close to the inauguration would accomplish, but we pointed out that many believe Trump could spur more violent action like what was seen on Wednesday.

“I pray that is not the case. I believe our vice president has done a very good job and I think folks are on high alert,” Murphy replied, “I pray that is not the case but you know we have, I don’t know how many days, moving forward until the transition occurs and I hope it’s a peaceful one.”

As one of several lawmakers who were in the process of contesting the election when the assault on the Capitol began, Murphy says he does not take responsibility for any of the violence.

“No, I don’t. These were violent thugs who overran the capitol building. We were doing in Congress what Congress is supposed to do, debate. Democrats in 2000, 2004, 2016 objected to the electoral college and I made a specific argument based upon constitutional grounds there were two states that were brought up,” Murphy responded, “I did not vote to object Arizona because I did not believe that was a constitutionally valid argument. I did vote to object against Pennsylvania, and I was not going to be bullied or pushed into changing those beliefs based upon the violence that occurred. And so, you know, it was sad. It was a very, very unfortunate for our nation’s history, but I based my arguments on reasoning, and I believe sound reasoning and I continued with those.”

We asked Murphy if he believes that those who continue to feel the election was stolen should accept the results following yesterday’s certification.

“I can’t change the way people feel. I do know that there was fraud throughout the country, whether it was you know able to be documented. There were several good arguments of things that occurred in Arizona yesterday which I was not aware of, but the election, the results are certified. We have a new president coming in and we will be in the minority party in the house, and we’re going to act accordingly,” Murphy said.

When asked if the fraud he’s describing rose to a conspiratorial level to overturn the election, Murphy responded, “I wouldn’t say there was a deep conspiracy. There were very well-founded, in my opinion, concerns brought up by the people of Arizona of what happened in that state. Again, I was not aware of those specific things. But the bottom line is, it doesn’t change what’s going to happen on inauguration day. We need to move forward as a nation. The world is watching us. We are the greatest experiment in democracy. And we need to prove that is the right way to govern and that’s how we move forward.”

We asked Murphy if he feels like the Republican party is splintering.

“I think there’s different factions for sure just like there are in the Democratic Party. I’m prayerful that President Trump will be gracious in his exit and that we as a republican party will come together for conservative values. That’s the basis and the foundation of our beliefs and that we stick with those. Splintering does nothing except to give the far left what they want, and I don’t believe that should occur,” Murphy said.

Copyright 2021 WITN. All rights reserved.