President-elect Joe Biden condemned armed rioters who stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, saying their behavior "borders on sedition" and implored President Donald Trump to go on live television to drive them out of Congress.
President-elect Joe Biden condemned armed rioters who stormed the Capitol on Wednesday, saying their behavior "borders on sedition" and implored President Donald Trump to go on live television to drive them out of Congress.
Instead, Trump posted a video to Twitter, lying again about winning the 2020 presidential election and stoking the flames of chaos. "We had an election that was stolen from us, it was a landslide election. Everyone knows it, especially the other side."
The post was immediately flagged by the social media company. "This claim of election fraud is disputed, and this Tweet can’t be replied to, Retweeted, or liked due to a risk of violence," Twitter's disclaimer attached to the Tweet reads.
Biden, who is scheduled to take over the presidency on Jan. 20, made an impassioned plea for peace while castigating rioters, who were encouraged by Trump to march on Congress in a speech he made earlier in the day.
“I call on President Trump to go on national television now, to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege,” Biden said.
“At this hour, our democracy is under unprecedented assault, unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times,” the president-elect said from his home town of Wilmington, Delaware.
“Let me be very clear: The scenes of chaos at the Capitol do not reflect the true America, do not represent who we are,” he added.
At times bordering on anger, Biden said in clear terms that the vigilantes who forced their way into Congress were not protesters.
"What we are seeing is a small number of extremists dedicated to lawlessness. This is not dissent, it's disorder. It borders on sedition, and it must end. Now."
In photos taken inside the Capitol, chaos reigned as armed rioters tromped their way through hallways, then faced off with armed Capitol police barricaded inside the House as tear gas was deployed and Congress members were told to shelter in place and put on gas masks.
More than five people were hospitalized with injuries, including a woman who was shot, according to emergency officials. The woman is at a nearby hospital in critical condition, CBS News reported.
“I know your pain, I know you’re hurt," Trump said in his address posted on Twitter. “But you have to go home now, we have to have peace.”
Biden said Trump must "step up." What occurred at the Capitol, where windows were broken, shots were fired, one rioter hung by his fingertips from a balcony in Congress and IEDs were discovered on the grounds, constituted an "insurrection," he said.
"The world's watching. I'm genuinely shocked and saddened," Biden said.
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