As he told supporters who stormed the US Capitol to go home, President Donald Trump repeated false claims of election fraud and told the rioters: “We love you, you’re very special”.
The National Guard had to be activated after Trump supporters stormed a session of Congress held to certify Joe Biden’s win in the Capitol on Wednesday, as a desperate last-minute bid by the president to overturn his election loss sparked chaos.
Hours after an extraordinary rally by Mr Trump challenging his defeat, his flag-waving backers broke down barricades outside the Capitol and swarmed inside, with the special session going into an emergency recess as protesters entered the chambers.
As world leaders expressed shock and outrage, Mr Trump said on Twitter that “these are the things and events that happen” when a “sacred landslide election victory” is stripped from “great patriots”.
Asking the rioters to stand down as he was accused of inciting domestic terrorism and a coup attempt, Mr Trump acknowledged their “pain” and “hurt” and rehashed his unfounded claims of a stolen election that was taken “away from all of us”.
“I know your hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us, it was a landslide election and everyone knows it,” Mr Trump said in a pre-recorded video.
“But you have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order … we don’t want anybody hurt.
“So go home. We love you, you’re very special.”
Others have strongly denounced the actions of the rioters who disrupted what for more than two centuries has been a quiet, ceremonial session to confirm the election’s winner.
Democratic Representative Mark Pocan said Mr Trump was “inciting domestic terrorism”, while fellow Democrat Karen Bass said the president was “inciting a coup”.
President-elect Mr Biden described the incident an “insurrection” and demanded before Mr Trump’s video that he go on television to call an end to the violent “siege”.
He said the the words of a president mattered, and said Mr Trump should fulfil his oath and defend the constitution.
President-elect Joe Biden speaks in Wilmington, Delaware, on Wednesday, 6 January.
AP
“At this hour, our democracy is under unprecedented assault unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times,” Mr Biden said in Wilmington, Delaware.
“The scenes of the chaos at the Capital do not reflect a true America, do not represent who we are. What we’re seeing are a small number of extremists dedicated to lawlessness.
“This is not dissent. It’s disorder, it’s chaos. It borders on sedition. And it must end now.
“I call on this mob to pull back and allow the work of democracy to go forward.”
With reporting by AFP.
