Fiona Hill says January 6 was a "dress rehearsal" for future political violence
Foreign affairs and national security expert Fiona Hill warned that the U.S. is in a "dangerous moment" and has already reached a constitutional crisis as political actors try to undermine elections and call for violence.
"I think the moment is incredibly dangerous. I mean we are in a dangerous moment," Hill said on "Face the Nation" Sunday morning.
Hill, a former National Security Council official who served as a key witness in the 2019 Trump impeachment hearings as a Trump administration official, pointed to serious threats as former President Trump is "clearly prepping for his return to the presidency," which he says is still rightfully his. The main threats to democracy, Hill said, aren't coming from the left end of the political spectrum.
"Unfortunately, I'm seeing the populism on the right is the most threatening at the moment," she told "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan.
Hill described the January 6 assault on the Capitol as a precursor for more violence with even more detrimental consequences. She noted that former Vice President Mike Pence has been downplaying the assault, in which some rioters called for him to be lynched. The next time around, violent actors could very well take control of a key governmental building, Hill said. January 6, she said, was a "dress rehearsal" for an attempt at overtaking the government that could happen in 2022 or 2024.
An immigrant herself, Hill said people who downplay the threat to democracy that unfolded January 6 should speak to immigrants from other countries who have experienced similar events before the buckling of a country.
"People are saying that because they don't have any personal experience of these kinds of events," Hill said, but as an immigrant, "I also know immigrants like myself who came from war zones ... all of the people I know who are immigrants are looking around and saying, can't people see this?"
Hill's new memoir, "There Is Nothing Here for You," details her time in the White House and explores the opportunities of the 21st century and whether future generations really can have more opportunities than their parents' generations in America.