Kaitlan Collins wasn’t having it with Donald Trump attorney Scott Gessler after he falsely claimed that the now-former president had attempted to prevent the Jan. 6, 2021, attack in Washington by authorizing the National Guard to go to the Capitol that day.
On Friday, the CNN anchor mentioned a Colorado judge who recently found that Trump engaged in insurrection but rejected an attempt to bar him from the state’s primary ballot in 2024 as he seeks the GOP presidential nomination.
Collins asked Gessler, a former Colorado secretary of state, if he disputed anything that the judge laid out about Trump’s behavior on the day of the insurrection, prompting Gessler to reply with his evidence-free claim.
“Absolutely. He did not act with intent or specific intent at all,” Gessler said.
“We thought the evidence was very clear, that he made efforts to ensure he authorized the National Guard, to make sure that they were available to prevent this type of violence. If you look at his actual tweets — ” Gessler added, before the anchor chimed in.
“He didn’t authorize the National Guard that day,” Collins said.
“He did. He did,” Gessler insisted.
Trump has falsely stated that he pushed for 10,000 to 20,000 troops to quell the violence at the Capitol. The claim has been challenged by Christopher Miller, the acting secretary of defense on the day of the attack, who testified to a House committee that there wasn’t any order from Trump.
Trump has also pointed a finger at then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for having “turned down the offer” to deploy troops to Washington.
“If she didn’t turn down the soldiers, you wouldn’t have had Jan. 6,” Trump said during an interview aired in September, despite Pelosi not controlling requests for the National Guard at the time.
Collins later hit back at Gessler’s efforts to continue spreading the claim about Trump authorizing the National Guard.
“Well, Kash Patel — his former aide — testified that as one of your witnesses [in the Colorado case],” she noted. “But when he was asked for any documentation or any evidence that Trump had done that, he didn’t provide any.”
You can check out Gessler’s response to Collins around the 6:16 mark in the clip below.