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Defiant Trump denounces violence but takes no responsibility for inciting deadly riot

January 12, 2021. Summarized by summa-bot.

Compression ratio: 62.6%. 1 min read.

US President Donald Trump speaks to the media as he makes his way to board Air Force One before departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on January 12, 2021. - Trump is traveling to Texas to review his border wall project. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

A defiant President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday his speech inciting the riot at the US Capitol was "totally appropriate" while at the same time calling for "no violence" in his first public remarks to reporters after the insurrection last week.

(CNN)A defiant President Donald Trump insisted Tuesday his speech inciting the riot at the US Capitol was "totally appropriate" while at the same time calling for "no violence" in his first public remarks to reporters after the insurrection last week.

Speaking at Joint Base Andrews before departing for Texas, Trump falsely said those who'd analyzed his remarks had found no fault in them.

Instead, Trump claimed the "real problem" is what other politicians said about protests over the summer in Seattle and Portland, Oregon.

Trump, in an aside, said "you always have to avoid violence. "

"This impeachment is causing tremendous anger, and you're doing it and it's really a terrible thing that they're doing," he told reporters on the White House South Lawn.

Trump's remarks on the White House South Lawn were his first in days and his first engagement with reporters in weeks.

Trump was slow to condemn the protests, which he watched on television from the dining room next to the Oval Office.

Later, Trump appeared to some aides to regret taping a video in which he denounced the violence and conceded he would not be serving a second term in office.

Trump spent the weekend largely in isolation, as aides either distanced themselves from him or limited their time in his presence.

Trump canceled a planned trip to Camp David, where his closest aides were hoping he would get into a good mindset ahead of his final stretch in office.

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