Ex-Trump Aide Defends Her Texts Trolling Nancy Pelosi on Jan. 6

A former aide to former President Donald Trump on Wednesday stood by her view that a Capitol incursion participant offered a bit of levity on Jan. 6, 2021, by taking former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s lectern.

Katrina Pierson was called to testify in a trial over whether Colorado should allow Trump on the presidential ballot.

Anti-Trump activists are claiming that a clause in the Civil War Reconstruction-era 14th Amendment should be used against Trump because of his involvement in the Capitol incursion of Jan. 6. The amendment bars anyone involved in an insurrection from holding federal office.

A report in The New York Times called Pierson a “liaison” between the White House and the organizers of the rally.

Former Trump campaign official Katrina Pierson testified on Wednesday that the theft of Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s podium during the Jan. 6 insurrection was “hysterical,” Mediaite reported. https://t.co/fIe2x0waEm

— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) November 3, 2023

During her appearance Wednesday, Pierson was asked about a Jan. 7, 2021, text to former Trump aide Max Miller about an image of a waving protester carrying Pelosi’s lectern, according to Mediate.

“You have to admit that seeing Nancy Pelosi’s lectern being carried away by Trump supporter is pretty damn funny,” she said then.

Asked about that Wednesday, she said, “Yes, it was hysterical.”

Adam Johnson of Florida last year was sentenced to serve 75 days in jail for his actions that day, according to NBC.

Johnson, who pleaded guilty to a criminal count of entering and remaining in a restricted building or grounds, said he held no hatred for Pelosi.

“If I did find her, I would ask for a selfie with her, if anything,” Johnson said.

The complaint against Johnson said he took the podium because “he believed it would make a good prop for a picture.”

During her testimony on Wednesday, Pierson spoke about the rally, saying she had told Trump it was being filled with  “bad actors,” according to Colorado Politics.

“These guys don’t care. They want attention. They want the notoriety. They just want the chaos,” she said, citing radio host Alex Jones, among others. “And I was concerned with emotions being high and the number of people who were likely gonna be there that we need to be on alert.”

She said she told Trump there could be groups coming to the rally that could cause trouble.

“He goes, ‘Let’s just have 10,000 National Guard and then that way we won’t have any problems,’” she testified, according to Esquire.