Jan. 6 riot on Capitol Hill was “dress rehearsal” for future political violence, says Fiona Hill

Expert in foreign affairs and national security Fiona Hill warned that the United States is at a “dangerous time” and has already reached a constitutional crisis as political actors attempt to undermine the elections and call for violence.

“I think the timing is incredibly dangerous. I mean we’re at a dangerous time,” Hill said on “Face the Nation” Sunday morning.

Hill, a former National Security Council official who was a key witness in the Trump impeachment hearings in 2019 as an official in the Trump administration, pointed out serious threats as former President Trump “clearly prepares for his return to the presidency,” which he says is still rightfully his. The main threats to democracy, Hill said, do not come from the left end of the political spectrum.

“Unfortunately, I see right-wing populism as the most threatening right now,” she told “Face the Nation” host Margaret Brennan.

Hill described the January 6 assault on the Capitol as a precursor of more violence with even more harmful consequences. She noted that former Vice President Mike Pence played down the assault, during which some rioters demanded that he be lynched. Next time around, violent actors could very well take control of a key government building, Hill said. January 6, she said, was a “dress rehearsal” for an attempt to overtake the government that could take place in 2022 or 2024.

An immigrant herself, Hill said people who downplay the threat to democracy that arose on Jan.6 should speak to immigrants from other countries who went through similar events before a country burst into flames.

“People say this because they have no personal experience of these kinds of events,” Hill said, but as an immigrant, “I also know immigrants like myself who have come from war zones… all the people I know who are immigrants looking around and saying, can’t people see this? ”

Hill’s new memoir, “There is nothing here for you,” details his time in the White House and explores the opportunities of the 21st century and whether future generations may truly have more opportunities than their parents’ generations in America.