Associated Press
Former President Barack Obama says history will rightly remember the violence at the Capitol as a moment of great dishonor and shame for the nation.
Angry supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday in a chaotic protest aimed at thwarting a peaceful transfer of power.
Obama say the violence was “incited by a sitting president” who baselessly lied about the outcome of the presidential election. He has convinced his supporters that he lost the election to President-elect Joe Biden only because Democrats cheated, a false claim.
Obama says it should not have come as a surprise, and that for two months “a political party and its accompanying media ecosystem has too often been unwilling to tell their followers the truth.”
He says “their fantasy narrative has spiraled further and further from reality, and it builds upon years of sown resentments. Now we’re seeing the consequences, whipped up into a violent crescendo.”
Former President George W. Bush also denounced the riots, adding that he and his wife, Laura, are sickened and heartbroken over the “mayhem” in Washington and have watched in “disbelief and dismay” as events unfolded.
Bush said the “assault” on the Capitol on Wednesday and the disruption to a constitutionally mandated meeting to affirm Democrat Joe Biden’s victory was “undertaken by people whose passions have been inflamed by falsehoods and false hopes.”
The Republican said in a statement that he is “appalled” by what he described as “reckless” behavior by some political leaders since the election and the lack of respect for U.S. institutions, traditions and law enforcement.
“This is how election results are disputed in a banana republic — not our democratic republic,” the former President said. “I am appalled by the reckless behavior of some political leaders since the election and by the lack of respect shown today for our institutions, our traditions, and our law enforcement.”
Bush addressed those who are disappointed by the election result, saying, “our country is more important than the politics of the moment.”
Former President Bill Clinton says the attack on the U.S. Capitol was fueled over four years of “poison politics” and lit by Trump.
Clinton said in a statement Wednesday night that the riot at the Capitol resulted from a combination of deliberate disinformation that created distrust in the system and pit Americans against one another.
He wrote, “The match was lit by Donald Trump and his most ardent enablers, including many in Congress, to overturn the results of an election he lost.”
Dozens of Trump’s supporters breached the security perimeter and entered the Capitol as Congress was meeting. They fought with officers both inside the building and out.
