Donald Trump, facing calls for him to be removed from office in the final days of his presidency, posted a video on Thursday calling for unity and acknowledging that Joe Biden would be the next occupant of the White House.
“A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power,” Trump said. “This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.”
The video was a sharp contrast to his rhetoric in the wake of the November elections, in which he claimed that the election was stolen from him. The siege at the Capitol, which Democrats and a number of Republicans say was stoked by Trump’s defiance of the results, has led to calls for Vice President Mike Pence and the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment.
Trump’s video comes a day after he delivered a defiant speech, released as his supporters were still occupying the Capitol, in which he called for peaceful protests but still made unfounded claims that the election was stolen from him. Just hours earlier, he calls on demonstrators to march to the Capitol, where Congress was meeting in joint session to certify the electoral votes in favor of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
Twitter blocked his access to his Twitter feed for 12 hours until he removed a series of tweets about the election, and Facebook has restricted him entirely for the next two weeks.
In the newly released video, Trump condemns the violence, saying that he was “outraged by the lawlessness and mayhem.” He said that the rioters in the Capitol “have defiled the seat of American democracy.”
Capitol Police were unable to control the mob of Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol, forcing the Capitol complex to go into lockdown as lawmakers were taken to secure locations and many others barricaded doors and took cover behind desks. Hundreds forced their way in and ransacked offices, took to the floor of the Senate and pounded on the door of the House chamber in an armed standoff with police.
CNN reported that a Capitol Police officer who was injured on Wednesday had died. One woman demonstrator, identified as Ashli Babbitt, was killed when she was shot in the Capitol by a plainclothes officer. Three others were taken to the hospital for medical emergencies and later died.
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