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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
John Bowden

Fox & Friends host blasts Trump for opening Waco rally with J6 choir song: ‘Insane, absolutely awful’

Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

Donald Trump is once again proving to be too much for Fox News’s hosts to defend after opening his rally in Waco, Texas, with a song performed by participants of the January 6 attack on Congress.

Fox & Friends host Brian Kilmeade laid into the former president on Monday after the moment in question occurred over the weekend.

Mr Trump "opened up with a January 6 video, which is insane,” Kilmeade remarked. “He should be running from that, period.”

He added: “I thought that was absolutely awful."

The song which opened the Saturday rally in Waco was created by a group of rioters charged for their actions in the January 6 attack; the lyrics are a version of The Star-Spangled Banner overlaid with audio of Donald Trump reciting the pledge of allegiance.

The piece has been viewed as a nod to the crowd responsible for maiming police officers in and around the US Capitol and storming the halls of Congress on a violent hunt for US lawmakers.

Proceeds from downloads of the music are being used by conservative activist Ed Henry to raise funds for the legal defences of January 6 defendants.

The location of his rally itself may have been another nod to that faction of Americans; Waco is famously the site of an armed standoff between a religious cult known as the Branch Davidians and federal authorities which ended in a fire killing dozens of cultists.

Mr Trump has pledged to pardon some or all defendants in cases related to the January 6 insurrection should he become president once more in 2024. The Department of Justice has charged more than 1,000 persons with crimes resulting from the attack on the Capitol.

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