Embattled US Rep. Eric Swalwell likened President Trump to Osama bin Laden during a TV interview ahead of Wednesday’s vote on a Democratic plan to impeach the commander-in-chief over last week’s siege of the US Capitol.
“Well, Osama bin Laden did not enter US soil on September 11, but it was widely acknowledged that he was responsible for inspiring the attack on our country,” Swalwell (D-Calif.) told “PBS NewsHour.”
“And the president, with his words — using the word ‘fight,’ with the speakers that he assembled that day, who called for trial by combat and said we have to take names and kick ass — that is hate speech that inspired and radicalized people to storm the Capitol.”
During the Tuesday night interview, host Judy Woodruff asked Swalwell if he was actually comparing Trump to the infamous founder of the al Qaeda terror network.
“I’m comparing the words of a [sic] individual who would incite and radicalize somebody, as Osama bin Laden did, to what President Trump did,” he said.
“You don’t actually have to commit the violence yourself, but if you call others to violence, that itself is a crime.”
Swalwell, who’s embroiled in controversy over his past relationship with a suspected Chinese spy, on Tuesday was named one of nine House managers who will lead the second impeachment effort against Trump.
Swalwell’s appointment by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) came despite his repeated refusal to say if he was intimately involved with Christine Fang and calls by Republicans to remove him from the House Intelligence Committee.