Two years after taking his aides advice to condemn the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrectionists, Donald Trump as he campaigns to regain the presidency is now openly embracing their violent assault on police officers in their efforts to carry out his attempted coup .

It was a beautiful day ... Jan. 6, it was the largest crowd I have ever spoken to, Trump said at a New Hampshire town hall hosted by CNN Wednesday before complaining that so many of them are facing felony charges or have already been convicted for their crimes. What theyve done to these people, theyve persecuted these people.

Those words align with previous statements from recent months where he has recast those charged and even convicted of assaulting police officers as patriotic heroes. He has even collaborated with more than a dozen of them to produce a recording of their rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner punctuated by Trump reading the Pledge of Allegiance which he then played at the start of a recent rally as he stood with his hand on his heart.

More than 140 officers were injured that day defending the Capitol from Trump followers who had come to block the congressional ceremony certifying Democrat Joe Biden s election win.

Among those injured and nearly killed was Michael Fanone, a former Washington, D.C., officer.

We need to stop treating him as if he is a participant in our democratic republic and start treating him as the enemy of it, he said. Thats how you debate Trump. You go to war with him.