Trump labels Schiff and Pelosi as "domestic adversaries."
"These are some shady individuals we've got. We've got plenty of shady individuals. But when you look at 'Sneaky Schiff' and some of the others, they're definitely in my book, they're adversaries from within," Trump stated in a chat on Fox News' "Mediabuzz" that aired on Sunday.
Fox News' Howard Kurtz offered Trump the chance to clarify — "He's a political adversary of yours, but is he an adversary?" — and Trump agreed, "Of course, he's an adversary, he's an adversary."
Trump also labeled Pelosi as an "adversary from within," falsely suggesting that she had the chance to safeguard the US Capitol on January 6, 2021.
"I reckon Nancy Pelosi is an adversary from within," he stated. "She was supposed to protect the Capitol." He also made a false claim that he "offered her 10,000 National Guard" and that the California Democrat "didn't accept."
The former president's claims about January 6 are baseless, as CNN had previously reported. The speaker of the House is not responsible for Capitol security, which is the responsibility of the Capitol Police Board, overseeing the US Capitol Police and approving requests for National Guard assistance.
Trump's former acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller also told lawmakers that he had never been given an official order by Trump to have 10,000 troops prepared to be deployed to the Capitol on January 6. "There was no direct, no order from the president," Miller stated.
Trump, in a separate interview on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures" last week, had proposed utilizing the military to manage what he called "the adversary from within" on Election Day. "I think the bigger problem is the adversary from within, not even the individuals who have come in and ruining our country."
"We have some pretty rotten people. We have some completely messed up people. Radical left lunatics," Trump told Bartiromo in that interview, adding later, "I believe it should be easily managed, if required, by, if needed, by the National Guard, or if truly necessary, by the military, because they can't let that happen."
In the days following, the former president's GOP allies have attempted to argue that Trump wasn't referring to political opponents and that his statement had been taken out of context.
Earlier on Sunday, for instance, House Speaker Mike Johnson first stated that the former president was referring to criminal or foreign gangs. "What he's talking about is marauding gangs," Johnson said when asked about Trump's suggestion of using the military against the "adversary from within."
But when Tapper pushed back, saying that Trump had been referring to Democrats like Schiff, Johnson clarified that Trump was not referring to using the military against political opponents.
"I didn't hear Trump in that clip say he's going to deploy the military against Adam Schiff. That's not what he's saying. You've got two different clips in two separate contexts," Johnson stated.
The Louisiana Republican added later: "He's not talking about deploying the military against political opponents. He's talking about using the National Guard and the military to maintain order in our streets."
And Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin last week told Tapper: "I believe what former President Trump is talking about are the individuals crossing the border, those who are committing crimes, those who are bringing drugs, and those who are trafficking humans. They're turning every state into a border state."
Tapper pointed out that Trump was not referring to migrants but rather the "radical left." Tapper also referred to Trump specifically naming Schiff in last week's interview, with the former president stating that while he can handle foreign adversaries, what's "tougher to handle are these lunatics we have inside like Adam Schiff ... who's a complete slimeball, is going to become a senator. But I call him the adversary from within."
CNN's Ali Main, Daniel Dale and Zachary B. Wolf contributed to this report.
In thecontext of Trump's Fox News interviews, he labeled several political figures as adversaries, including Representative Adam Schiff, whom he referred to as an "adversary from within." Furthermore, the former president suggested that managing internal political opposition might require the intervention of the National Guard or the military, emphasizing the presence of "radical left lunatics" in politics.
