The three previous presidents lambasted a mob of supporters of President Trump who stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington and called on Republican leaders to speak out against the party leader.
“History will rightly remember today’s violence at the Capitol, incited by a sitting president who has continued to baselessly lie about the outcome of a lawful election, as a moment of great dishonor and shame for our nation,” President Barack Obama, a Democrat, said in a statement Wednesday evening.
President Bill Clinton said the attack on the Capitol and countless lawmakers, staff, and media inside was an “unprecedented assault on our Capitol, our Constitution, and our country.”
“The assault was fueled by more than four years of poison politics spreading deliberate misinformation, sowing distrust in our system, and pitting Americans against one another,” Clinton, a Democrat, said in a Twitter post.
Republican President George W. Bush said he was in “disbelief” at the “sickening and heartbreaking” images broadcast from the nation’s capital.
“This is how election results are disputed in a banana republic — not our democratic republic,” Bush wrote in a statement. “The violent assault on the Capitol — and disruption of a Constitutionally-mandated meeting of Congress — was undertaken by people whose passions have been inflamed by falsehoods and false hopes. Insurrection could do grave damage to our Nation and reputation.”
All three begged Republicans to take a stand against Trump, though no one specifically named him. Obama said he was encouraged by Republicans who came forward today to denounce the violence and endorse the results of the November election.
“Right now, Republican leaders have a choice made clear in the desecrated chambers of democracy,” Obama said. “They can continue down this road and keep stoking the raging fires. Or they can choose reality and take the first steps toward extinguishing the flames. They can choose America.”
