PALM BEACH: Repub­lican presidential candidate Donald Trump falsely said Democrats had staged a “coup” to force President Joe Biden to drop his re-election bid, as his Democratic rival Kamala Harris planned a rally in Washington that will remind voters of the violent attack on the US Capitol by Trump’s supporters.

At an event at his Florida estate one week before the Nov 5 election, Trump said Harris would be too dangerous to serve as president, pointing to foreign wars and high levels of immigration that have occurred during her tenure as vice president.

His accusation that Democrats had unfairly forced Biden out of the race recalled Trump’s false claims that he had lost the 2020 election due to fraud.

“They stole the presidency of the United States. You can call it a coup, you can call it whatever. But they stole it,” he told supporters. “The way they took that away from him was not right.” Biden, 81, abandoned his re-election bid in July after weeks of pressure from fellow Democrats who worried he was too old for a rematch with Trump, 78.

Harris is due to hold a rally later in the day at the Ellipse, a park near the White House where on Jan 6, 2021, Trump urged supporters to “fight like hell” and march to the US Capitol, where lawmakers were certifying his loss. Four people died in the ensuing riot, and one police officer who defended the Capitol died the following day. Trump has said, if he is re-elected, he would pardon the more than 1,500 participants who have been charged with crimes.

Published in Dawn, October 30th, 2024