Representative Scott DesJarlais (R-TN) warns that there could be an ulterior motive behind the media and Democrats’ push to play up last week’s incident at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

During an appearance on FM Talk 106.5 in Mobile, AL, he acknowledged that President Donald Trump’s response could have been much better. However, the Tennessee Republican lawmaker also argued the way the media are playing the incident is part of an effort to tarnish his legacy.

“[Y]ou don’t have to like Donald Trump — and I personally thought he could have been quicker on the trigger to get on TV and denounce it as soon as it began to happen,” DesJarlais said. “So I wasn’t thrilled about that — but I don’t lose sight of all the great things he did over four years as president, and they’re just trying, in my opinion, to put a stain on everything he did and who he was by this thing.”

“The hypocrisy and double standards of the riots that occurred all summer long — the rioting, the looting, the deaths that occurred all summer that were rarely or barely denounced by the left — all of a sudden, this was the end-all and be-all of riots,” he continued. “They talk about five, now six people have died during this violent mob. Well, we know one woman, unfortunately, was shot. That’s still under investigation. Three people died from medical emergencies, very unspecified — people that had a heart attack that could have had it in Texas or in Washington, but they didn’t necessarily die due to an angry mob. We know there were 40,000 Trump supporters there, and if history shows you, I’ve been to Trump rallies. They’re peaceful, patriotic people who wanted their voices heard. This wasn’t 40,000 Trump supporters storming the Capitol. There was a couple of hundred lunatics, very misguided, that did this. So, everything about it is an exaggeration, and so the hypocrisy of their riots versus this insurrection is talked about completely differently on the news.”

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