Since the deadly January 6 insurrection at the United States Capitol, former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies have pushed false and misleading accounts to downplay the event that left five dead and scores of others wounded. His supporters appear to have listened.
Three months after a mob of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol to try to overturn his November election loss, about half of Republicans believe the siege was largely a non-violent protest or was the handiwork of left-wing activists “trying to make Trump look bad”, a new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found.
Six in 10 Republicans also believe the false claim put out by Trump that November’s presidential election “was stolen” from him due to widespread voter fraud, and the same proportion of Republicans think he should run again in 2024, the March 30-31 poll showed.
President Biden boards Air Force One at Pittsburgh International Airport on Wednesday.Credit.Anna Moneymaker for The New York Times
President Biden is set to hold his first cabinet meeting on Thursday, convening his administration’s top officials for an in-person gathering at the White House a day after he rolled out his $2 trillion infrastructure plan.
The afternoon meeting comes just over 10 weeks into Mr. Biden’s presidency, a period in which the Senate confirmed all of his cabinet secretaries and almost all of his nominees to other cabinet-level positions. It will be held in the East Room, rather than the Cabinet Room, to allow for social distancing.