Geraldo Rivera says longtime friend Donald Trump should be impeached over Capitol attack

Geraldo Rivera said Wednesday that his longtime friend President Trump was complicit in last week’s deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol and called it “entirely appropriate” for him to be impeached.

“He should be impeached,” the former “Geraldo” host and current Fox News correspondent said in a video he shared on social media. “If the Senate wants to acquit him, that’s their business. But he should know that history is judging him.”

Mr. Rivera uploaded the video to Twitter shortly before the U.S. House of Representatives was set to convene to consider impeaching Mr. Trump for inciting the attack that occurred the week before.

In another post he made on the platform, Mr. Rivera said Mr. Trump “lit a fuse that exploded in the U.S. Capitol” and was responsible for unleashing and inciting the mob that attacked the building.

“Regardless of how Senate ultimately votes, it’s entirely appropriate that #DonaldTrump be #Impeached by the House. He knew what mob intended from the jump,” Mr. Rivera wrote on Twitter.

Mr. Rivera, who has been close to Mr. Trump since the ’70s, said in another tweet he believes the president, his eldest son and personal lawyer are each responsible for the storming to some degree.

“#DonaldTrump #DonaldTrumpJr #RudyGiuliani were complicit in unleashing snarling, seething, shouting mob that invaded & defaced the Capitol,” Mr. Rivera tweeted. “They must apologize-show contrition for grievous loss of life & pain inflicted. They must reach out to families of dead & beg forgiveness.”

Mr. Trump, his son and Mr. Giuliani all used charged language while addressing supporters of the president who had gathered near the White House last Wednesday to protest his recent election loss.

That protest ended with the president encouraging his supporters to march to the Capitol, which they stormed moments later while both the House and Senate met inside.

Five people died during the insurrection, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer.

Mr. Rivera, 77, described Mr. Trump last year as a longtime friend and “hangout buddy.” But he said last month that Mr. Trump stopped returning his phone calls over their opposing views about the election.

Indeed, Mr. Rivera had been insisting repeatedly in the weeks since the results of the race became apparent that Mr. Trump should concede to President-elect Joseph R. Biden.

“The longer we drag this out, the more we damage the fabric of our democracy,” Mr. Rivera said on Fox News last month.