Megan Rapinoe, outspoken Trump critic and captain of the U.S. women’s soccer team, said on Tuesday that the people who surged into the U.S. Capitol on January 6 were a “white supremacy mob.”
She called the attack, which included the death of a Capitol Police officer and multiple Trump supporters (one from a gunshot, three from medical emergencies) “a huge stain on the country.”
Rapinoe, who has returned to U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) duty for the first time in nearly a year, spoke to reporters at length about the insurrection on January 6 that saw a pro-Trump mob force its way into the Capitol. In the wake of the deadly riots, criminal defendants have been rounded up across the country, with some accused of bringing weapons and bombs to Capitol Hill.
The 35-year-old was among the first white professional athletes to kneel in solidarity with former NFL player Colin Kaepernick in 2016 and labeled herself a “walking protest” ahead of the 2019 Women’s World Cup.
Asked on Tuesday about a photo of an individual wearing a Trump mask and the USWNT crest, Rapinoe said: “I feel like I can probably speak on behalf of a lot of my teammates — that is not the kind of fan that we would welcome.”
“The USWNT plays its first game of 2021 against Colombia on January 19 in Florida before looking to defend its SheBelieves Cup title in February,” CNN reported. “At the Olympics in Tokyo later this year, the team will bid to win its fifth gold medal.”
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