Ex-Pence aide turned Trump critic ‘very concerned’ about Jan 6 violence

Olivia Troye says that people protesting the election results ‘think they’re being patriotic because they’re supporting Donald Trump’

Olivia Troye, former homeland security and counterterrorism adviser to Vice President Mike Pence, told MSNBC that she was "very concerned that there will be violence on January 6th because the President himself is encouraging it".

January 6th is the date when Congress is due to certify President-elect Joe Biden's electoral college victory. The north Alabama congressman Mo Brooks told Fox News on Monday that "dozens" of Republican lawmakers intend to challenge the results despite the lack of evidence of voter fraud and support from their Congressional leadership. 

Republican Representative Louie Gohmert of Texas filed a lawsuit against Mr Pence, who will oversee the certification process, in a Hail Mary attempt to disregard the rules regulating Congress' counting of electoral college votes and allowing Mr Pence to ignore Mr Biden's electors and only count Mr Trump's. The lawsuit is unlikely to be successful.

Speaking during an appearance on the cable news network on Monday, Ms Troye said of President Trump: "This is what he does. He tweets, he incites it, he gets his followers and supporters to behave in this manner and these people think they’re being patriotic because they’re supporting Donald Trump.”

Two establishments in downtown Washington DC popular with Trump supporters and the far-right group Proud Boys have already announced that they will be closed around January 6th out of concern for their staff and guests. 

Hotel Harrington posted a statement on their Facebook page saying "While we cannot control what happens outside of the hotel, we are taking additional steps to protect the safety of our visitors, guests and employees. 

Hotel Harrington will be closed January 4, 5 and 6." Harry's bar, located on the hotel's first floor, will be closed January 5 and 6. The hotel didn't specify why they were closing on those dates, but the last time Proud Boys and Trump supporters protested in DC, violent and chaotic scenes broke out across the capital, including right outside Harry's Bar.

Thousands of Trump supporters are expected to descend on Washington DC to protest the results. Mr Trump tweeted on Sunday: "See you in Washington, DC, on January 6th. Don’t miss it."

“In terms of his legacy, this is a President who calls himself the President of law and order and we have seen anything but that," Ms Troye said. "We had a bombing on Christmas Day, we have had protests in the streets, this is all out of control. The divisiveness is through the ceiling because of this man who continues to stoke the flames of these extremely far-right people who show up and think that he’s calling out to them. If that’s the legacy he wants, he certainly has it.”

The words "law and order" has a long history in US politics. Critics have said that the way Mr Trump employs the phrase harkens back to the campaigns of Richard Nixon and segregationist George Wallace of the 1960s whose use of the words are widely considered to have been racist.

Ms Troye indicated that she didn't think that Mr Trump would be leaving the spotlight when he leaves office in 22 days. “I know that he will be out there completely undermining the Biden administration and he will continue to push this rhetoric which is very dangerous to our country,” she said.