The hosts of MSNBC’s The Weekend were unable to contain their outrage after Donald Trump reportedly celebrated efforts to overturn the 2020 election at a secretive party on Saturday night.
The party, held at Mar-a-Lago without prior notice or invitations to the press, featured the Republican president-elect praising attorney John Eastman’s role in pressuring then-Vice President Mike Pence not to certify the presidential election results four years ago, according to NBC News.
Against a backdrop of footage documenting Eastman’s efforts, Trump is said to have told party attendees, “I’m a big fan of John Eastman.” Yeah, he was right. He happened to be correct. That’s why they changed the law, and no one wants to discuss it.”
Apparently, Trump continued: “They said he’s not allowed to do it, he’s not allowed to do it, and they convinced him he’s not allowed to do it, our vice president, then right after the election they changed the law so he can’t do it.”
His comments follow the president-elect’s earlier statement to reporters in December that he intends to pardon Capitol Riot participants as soon as he takes office later this month.
On Sunday morning, MSNBC host Michael Steele asked his fellow panelists, “What was the sense in this room, what was the purpose of this gathering, is it just an in-your-face-moment or a tale of things to come?”
Vaughn Hilyard, a reporter, replied, “Let’s be clear: it’s not a coincidence that at the same event where he welcomed John Eastman, Michael Flynn, Jeffrey Clark (the man who told the DOJ to hold off on making any statements about the 2020 election), Rudy Guliani, and Peter Navarro (who got in trouble for not following the Jan. 6 subpoena), they were watching a documentary about John E.
Symone Sanders Townsend, a co-host, replied more directly: “Let’s just make it clearer: this is sickening!” This makes me sick; I’m sick. Some people, like Peter Navarro and Jeffrey Clark, went to the Capitol to fight the US government with weapons because the president had lied to them.
She continued, “Those aren’t patriots. What Donald Trump did last night was a disgrace to the country and the Constitution, and the fact that they didn’t tell anyone about it indicates that they knew what they were doing was wrong and wanted to do it anyway.”
