A day after he told his supporters “we love you,” President Donald Trump condemned them Thursday for violently swarming the U.S. Capitol in a statement that called for a “seamless transition of power.”
“America is and must always be a nation of law and order. The demonstrators who infiltrated the Capitol have defiled the seat of American democracy,” Trump said. “To those who engaged in acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country. And to those who broke the law, you will pay.”
Although it was filled with numerous falsehoods, the statement marks a stark shift for Trump, who only Wednesday had been slow to call for the rioters to disperse and had to be persuaded to send reinforcements for Capitol Police as the building was under siege.
