Donald Trump vowed to join Capitol protest – then scuttled off and sent in National Guard
Donald Trump vowed to march to the US Capitol with his supporters on Wednesday – then headed back to the White House and sent in the National Guard after the building was stormed.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany confirmed Wednesday afternoon that Trump had green-lighted the National Guard to remove protesters from the Washington DC building. It is formed of reservists from the US Army and Air Force, and is being sent to DC from neighboring states including Virginia and Maryland.
Eyewitnesses have also reported seeing scores of police cars and Swat teams from Virginia rushing to the Capitol Building. President Trump is also reported to be recording a video message in which he is expected to call the protesters to stop, after Joe Biden called on him to ‘step up,’ and called Wednesday’s protest ‘an unprecedented assault on our democracy.’
But just hours earlier the president himself had vowed to join the protest. He told a ‘Save America’ rally, many of whose attendees later besieged the Capitol: ‘We’re going to walk down, and i’ll be there with you.
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‘We’re going to walk down, any one you want, we’re going to walk down to the Capitol and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.
‘Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength.’ Trump has since sent two tweets urging protesters to stay peaceful, but has not told them to stop.
Wednesday’s stunning scenes saw a woman shot in the neck inside the Capitol, reportedly by a police officer. She was seen being stretchered away afterwards, although no update has been given on her condition.
Scores of protesters breached the building – which houses the House of Representatives, and Senate – as a certification of Joe Biden’s win was underway.
That saw proceedings halted, with Vice President Mike Pence – who was overseeing the Senate hearing – quickly rushed away to a secure location. Representatives and Senators were also brought into secure rooms, and asked to wear gas masks designed to be donned in the event of an attack on the building.
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