After Capitol riot, Piers Morgan says he regrets supporting Trump: 'I never thought he was capable of this'

• Speaking on "Good Morning Britain," Piers Morgan told his cohost Susanna Reid that he regretted supporting President Donald Trump.
• Morgan said he never thought Trump, a former friend, "was capable" of inciting "a mob to attack the Capitol in America and attack democracy itself."
• Morgan said Trump's critics had been "proven right," calling Trump "mad" and "mentally unfit."
• Morgan supported Trump for much of his four years in office and has defended his friendship with him on several occasions.

The British talk-show host Piers Morgan says he regrets supporting President Donald Trump, calling the president "mentally unfit" after the riot at the US Capitol last week.

On Monday, Morgan discussed what he called the "horrendous" attack in Washington, DC, with his cohost Susanna Reid on the UK show "Good Morning Britain."

"What we witnessed in America last week was one of the saddest things I've ever had to see, in a country that I love," Morgan said of the riot, in which Trump supporters broke into the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the certification of Joe Biden's victory over Trump.

"It was a mob of insurrectionists attempting a coup, encouraged to fight down at the Capitol by their own president," Morgan said. "Trump's gone mad. I think the pandemic and the realization [that he] cost them the election have sent him nuts and now it's a very dangerous situation."

Trump is facing overwhelming criticism for his role inciting the violence last week after he urged his supporters to descend on the Capitol and protest his election defeat.

Morgan supported Trump for much of the president's four years in office and has defended his friendship with him on several occasions, such as his immigrant ban in 2017.

Morgan appeared in season seven of "The Celebrity Apprentice" in 2007, when 14 celebrities vied for Trump's "Best Business Brain" title.

Since then, Morgan has interviewed Trump twice in appearances that were condemned for their lack of criticism and easygoing nature from the usually pugnacious TV host.

Morgan's views have changed in the past year, however, with the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic.

Last May, Morgan branded Trump as a president with "a complete inability to show empathy" over his handling of the pandemic. This came after a column he wrote for the Daily Mail titled "SHUT THE F--- UP, PRESIDENT TRUMP."

On Monday's show, Reid asked whether Morgan regretted supporting his former friend, to which Morgan responded: "No question, I never thought he was capable of this. He has played down to the very worst expectations and predictions of his worst critics.

"To everyone who gave him the benefit of the doubt, including me for a long time, until the pandemic really hit hard in March, April when I could see the way he was going and I then began to attack him, which I'd done all year last year, but there's no doubt I never, ever imagined the person I had known for 15 years would incite a mob to attack the Capitol in America and attack democracy itself."

Morgan continued: "He didn't just cross a line, he trampled all over that line. And he's now a threat to American democracy. To those who warned this was what was going to happen with Trump, you've been proven right. It's a sobering moment."

—Good Morning Britain (@GMB) January 11, 2021

Addressing the possibility of the 25th Amendment being invoked - which could depose Trump and hand his responsibilities to Vice President Mike Pence for the remainder of his term - Morgan said there was a "good argument for that."

"This mob, if they had got into the chamber itself, they were chanting that they wanted to hang Mike Pence, they wanted to attack Nancy Pelosi," Morgan said, adding, "This could have been unbelievably awful."

Both Morgan and Reid looked ahead to Joe Biden's inauguration on January 20, following Biden's win in the 2020 US election that Trump and his supporters still baselessly claim is fraudulent. Morgan called Biden "a good man, a decent man," who "needs to restore some kind of peace and healing in America."

At least five deaths were linked to the Capitol riot, including that of a police officer, while new videos continue to emerge of the violence.

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• Former Trump supporter Piers Morgan said the president has a 'complete inability to show empathy,' and he wishes Angela Merkel was leading the US' coronavirus response instead