President Donald Trump absent as supporters storm Capitol Hill

CNBC's Shepard Smith says we have witnessed this road of refusal to accept reality. "Of lie after lie after lie of the state of play in America," Smith said. "The president allows it to go on and when they literally overtake Capitol Hill, we don't hear from him." For access to live and exclusive video from CNBC subscribe to CNBC PRO: https://cnb.cx/2NGeIvi

President Donald Trump on Wednesday urged the swarms of his supporters rioting in and around the U.S. Capitol to “go home now,” while continuing to falsely insist that his reelection was “stolen.”

The president’s remarks in a one-minute video on Twitter came after lawmakers on both sides of the aisle publicly urged him to speak out with force against the chaos caused by his base. Nearly 40 seconds of the video, however, served to sympathize with the rioters.

“I know your pain, I know you’re hurt,” Trump said. “We had an election that was stolen from us, it was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side.”

“But you have to go home now, we have to have peace,” he added. “We have to have peace. We have to have law and order we have to respect our great people in law and order.”

The brief clip came as the Capitol building, where a joint session of Congress was underway to count the Electoral College ballots and confirm President-elect Joe Biden’s victory, remained under lockdown amid the riots by Trump’s supporters.

Shortly after Congress began the proceedings, presided over by Vice President Mike Pence, throngs of pro-Trump protesters migrated to the Capitol. The process came to an abrupt halt soon after; Pence and other officials were quickly evacuated.

“We don’t want anybody hurt,” Trump said in his video statement. But reports of injuries have already emerged, including at least one person shot at the Capitol and five sent to the hospital, according to NBC News.

“It’s a very tough period of time. There’s never been a time like this where such a thing happened where they could take it away from all of us from me from you from our country. This was a fraudulent election. But we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace,” he said.

“So go home. We love you. You’re very special. You’ve seen what happens, you see the way others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel. but go home and go home and peace.”

Several officials, including Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, begged Trump to flatly condemn his supporters’ unprecedented actions.

Less than an hour before the video’s release, Biden spoke in person to reporters and unequivocally condemned the riots, demanding that Trump do the same on national television.

Trump earlier in the day, at a rally outside the White House, had angrily lashed out at a wide array of his perceived political enemies, including “weak Republicans” who refused to aid in his efforts to overturn the election.



» Subscribe to CNBC TV: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCtelevision
» Subscribe to CNBC: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC
» Subscribe to CNBC Classic: https://cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBCclassic

Turn to CNBC TV for the latest stock market news and analysis. From market futures to live price updates CNBC is the leader in business news worldwide.

The News with Shepard Smith is CNBC’s daily news podcast providing deep, non-partisan coverage and perspective on the day’s most important stories. Available to listen by 8:30pm ET / 5:30pm PT daily beginning September 30: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/29/the-news-with-shepard-smith-podcast.html?__source=youtube%7Cshepsmith%7Cpodcast

Connect with CNBC News Online
Get the latest news: http://www.cnbc.com/
Follow CNBC on LinkedIn: https://cnb.cx/LinkedInCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Facebook: https://cnb.cx/LikeCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Twitter: https://cnb.cx/FollowCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Instagram: https://cnb.cx/InstagramCNBC

https://www.cnbc.com/select/best-credit-cards/

#CNBC
#CNBCTV