Dear @POTUS@realDonaldTrump:
Tell your supporters to stand back & stand down, NOW. Peaceful protest is a constitutional right. The invasion of Joint Session at the @uscapitol is a direct attack on our democracy & must be forcibly repelled. Ask them to disperse to avoid violence.
"At this hour, our democracy under unprecedented assault unlike anything we've seen in modern times," says President-Elect @JoeBiden.
This is a small group of extremists. "This borders on sedition" & "it must end now."
"I call on President Trump to on TV now to fulfill his oath"
Biden: "Threatening the safety of duly elected officials is not a protest: it's insurrection."
"Today is a reminder, a painful one, that democracy is fragile. To preserve it requires people of good will, leaders with the courage to stand up."
In a (disgraceful) statement, President Trump told his supporters that "you have to go home now" in peace" – & then lied that the election as stolen, & called people "evil."
Unfit.
(@Twitter has added a weak label, & froze the tweet "due to a risk of violence.")
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He says
-will focus on judiciary & @TheJusticeDept
-will be time to ask about 25th Amendment
-yesterday was one of darkest days in the history of our nation
Biden: An unprecedented assault on our democracy.
An assault literally on the citadel of liberty: the @uscapitol itself.
An assault on the rule of law.
On the most sacred of American undertakings: ratifying the will of the people in choosing the leadership of their government.
Biden: All of us here grieve the loss of life.
Grieve the desecration of the People's House.
But what we witnessed yesterday was not dissent, not disorder.
It was not a protest.
It was chaos.
They weren't protestors.
They were a riotous mob.
Insurrectionists.
Domestic terrorists.
The House & Senate should have procured & issued N95 masks months ago, & the attending physician of Congress should have ensured they use them. nytimes.com/2020/05/16/us/…
Now @CongressmanJVD is having the same problem, & had the Speaker of the House remind him to pull up his mask.
Hanging out at 11:35 ET on Capitol Hill, watching @VP preside over a Joint Session of Congress reconvene on @cspan to count votes, after the House joined the Senate in voting to reject an objection to Arizona’s electoral votes: c-span.org/video/?507663-…
Democracy back in action.
Objection by @mtgreenee was in writing, but did not have the signature of a Senator, so @VP read the US Code, & moved on.
She was heard, but did not gain support.
Gotta say, tonight might be one @Mike_Pence's finest moment.
Make good governance boring again!
Objections from Alabama Member to certification of the vote of Nevada.
It was in writing, but no US Senator joined in the effort
{applause}
The objection cannot be entertained, & on we go.
Today, the President of the United States kept telling
absurd lies & refused to concede.
He incited acts of domestic terrorism.
Members of the @Cabinet should be quietly considering the 25th Amendment.
The House should open an impeachment inquiry, @RepJerryNadler@SpeakerPelosi
An inquiry is not a conviction.
It is the first, necessary step for Congress to hold a corrupt President willing to lie & incite his partisans to overturn an election accountable.
He incited a mob towards an insurrection that breached the @uscapitol, disrupting a Joint Session.
"With his incitement of a direct assault on the people’s house, [Trump] has forfeited his claim to finish his term. The House must…impeach him, & the Senate must vote to remove him. And as it does so, …bar him from ever again serving in public office." theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…?
DC @MayorBowser has announced a citywide curfew from 7 PM ET tonight to 6 AM tomorrow. No one allowed to be outside in public places but essential workers & credentialed. Urges all to #StayHome, & stay calm. Behavior is shameful, unpatriotic, & unlawful.
Bowser:
• @DCPoliceDept has been deployed to support @CapitolPolice
• DCPD chiec will lead mission to clear @uscapitol building & establish a perimeter around the capitol
•Maryland & Virginia state police will deploy to help regain control of the US Capitol & maintain order
Chief says
•Crowd noticeably changed when close to Capitol
•Due to violent behavior towards police officer & intent to gain access, riot was declared
•Was clear crowd intended harm by deploying chemical agents
•People were able to gain access
•1 civilian has gunshot wound
Meanwhile, as President Trump increases the velocity of his lies down on the Mall, a Joint Session of Congress to count the electoral college ballots has begun at @uscapitol. @cspan: c-span.org/video/?507663-…@SpeakerPelosi just gaveled it in.
This President is now angrily (in)effectively counter-programming the Congress meeting up Pennsylvania to verify the certificates of the electors with an alternative reality TV show of denialism, fabulism, & grievance on the Mall:
@uscapitol@cspan@SpeakerPelosi "Respectfully, the gentleman's parliamentary inquiry constitutes debate, which is not permitted in the Joint Session under Section 18 of Title III, US Code."-@VP@Mike_Pence law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/3/…
(What's happening down on the Mall or outside Capitol is something else.)