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Updated 43 minutes ago
Biden speaking today during an event at The Queen Theater in Wilmington, Delaware to announce the key nominees for the US Department of Justice.
Source: Susan Walsh / PA
THE PRESIDENT ELECTED OF THE UNITED STATES, Joe Biden, condemned Donald Trump’s behavior and called those who stormed the United States Capitol as “internal terrorists.”
He said that yesterday’s events were an “assault on our freedom” and speaking of the protesters, he said:
“What we witnessed yesterday was not dissent. It was not disorder. It was not a protest. It was chaos. They were not protesters. Don’t you dare call them protesters. They were an unbridled mob. Insurrectionists. Domestic terrorists. It’s that basic. It’s that easy.”
“Don’t you dare call them protesters, they were an unbridled mob, insurgents.”
“No one can tell me that if it had been a Black Lives Matter group protesting yesterday, they would not have treated it very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol,” he said.
Biden said he would not address the questions about the invocation of the 25th Amendment against President Trump that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is asking for.
Pelosi said that if that doesn’t happen, Congress can act to impeach Trump.
Members of the president’s own cabinet reportedly discussed the measure last night, while several Democratic members of Congress also urged Pence to declare Trump incapable of continuing to lead the country.
Under the 25th amendment to the US constitution, a US president can declare that they are unable to fulfill their duties, or members of the government can decide this for them.
If this happens, the vice president becomes president, even temporarily (for example, if the president is ill or briefly incapacitated).
“I join the Senate Democratic leader in asking the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th Amendment,” Pelosi told reporters.
“If the vice president and cabinet do not act, Congress may be prepared to move forward with the impeachment that is the overwhelming sentiment of my group and the American people.”
“My members are very interested. My phone is exploding with ‘impeachment, impeachment, impeachment,’ ”he said, adding,“ I have no immediate plans. We haven’t even gone to sleep since the Republicans went mad in deciding that we should leave until four in the morning for no purpose except to facilitate the sedition of the president. ”
In another blow to Trump, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said he is resigning, becoming the highest-ranking member of the administration to resign in protest after the uprising on Capitol Hill.
Chao, who is married to Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, said the violent attack on Capitol Hill “has deeply concerned me in a way that I simply cannot ignore.”
“While there are only 13 days left, any day could be a horror show for America” - Pelosi pic.twitter.com/1jFtYneIIp
– Aaron Rupar (atrupar) January 7, 2021
The chief of the United States Capitol Police said the violent mob that stormed the building wielded metal pipes, chemical irritants and other weapons against law enforcement.
Steven Sund issued a statement saying that the protesters “actively attacked” the police officers and “were determined to enter the Capitol building causing extensive damage.”
A Capitol police officer shot and killed one person, whom Sund identified as Ashli Babbitt.
Sund did not identify the officer, but said they would be placed on administrative leave pending an investigation.
Washington Police Chief Robert Contee said three other people had died in the area around the Capitol yesterday, but did not link those deaths to the violence. The deaths were described as medical emergencies.
Sund defended his agency’s response from criticism that agents did not stop the raid.
He says his agency “had a solid plan” for what it anticipated would be peaceful protests, but what happened on Wednesday was “unbridled criminal behavior.”
It said more than 50 Capitol and Washington police officers were injured and several Capitol Police officers were taken to hospital with serious injuries.
The rioters collide with the police using a grand staircase that attempts to enter the Capitol building through the front doors.
Source: Lev Radin / PA
Former Attorney General William Barr said Trump’s conduct when a violent mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol was a “betrayal of his office and his supporters.”
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In a statement, Barr said that “orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable.”
Barr was one of Trump’s most loyal and ardent defenders in the Cabinet.
Barr resigned last month amid persistent tension over the president’s unsubstantiated claims about voter fraud and the investigation into Biden’s son.
The United States special envoy for Northern Ireland, Mick Mulvaney, resigned from his post earlier today after yesterday’s riots. So far, several White House officials, including the deputy national security adviser, have resigned.
Facebook and Instagram have blocked Donald Trump’s accounts “indefinitely” after yesterday’s riots.
Mark Zuckerberg said the past 24 hours “clearly demonstrate that President Donald Trump intends to use his remaining time in office to undermine the peaceful and legal transition of power to his elected successor, Joe Biden.”
Twitter has already blocked Trump’s accounts and removed two tweets due to what they described as “violating Twitter’s rules.”
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