U.S. Rep. Moulton Calls Capitol Riot Act Of 'Domestic Terrorism'

The threat of what U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton called "right-wing extremism" and "domestic terrorism" does not end with the end of President Donald Trump's presidency Wednesday at noon.

That was the North Shore Congressman's message during a Facebook Live forum with constituents on Tuesday in which he described his view on the eve of President-Elect Joe Biden's inauguration as a Washington D.C. filled with miles of fence topped with brand new razor wire, bridges over the rivers closed, half the city shut down and "thousands and thousands" of troops lining the streets and protecting government buildings.

"This does not give you the impression of a peaceful transition of power," Moulton said. "It's a frightening sight."

Two weeks after Moulton and his Congressional colleagues were sequestered for their own safety after rioters breached the U.S. Capitol, he continued to blame President Trump's "mob" for the attack.

"We actually need to deal with them in this country," Moulton said Tuesday. "The threat of right-wing extremism isn't going away when President Trump goes away (on Wednesday). There are 25,000 members of the National Guard in Washington to fortify the Capitol and protect it from the president and his mob."

Moulton voted to impeach Trump for a second time last week, calling that vote: "A sad day for me as an American patriot."

He called the Capitol attack Tuesday "a truly shocking assault on democracy itself, on our Constitution from within" and reiterated his classification of the rioters as "domestic terrorists."

"This is terrorism right here at home," he said. "If you are really anti-terror, if you don't like terrorists, you have to fight them right here too.

"If you are anti-terrorist you have to be anti-white supremacist too," he added.

Moulton urged his Republican colleagues who have not already done so to denounce the extremist groups.

"The reality is that most members of Congress on either side of the aisle know the truth," he said. "What's lacking in Congress is not the intelligence to know the right thing to do. It's the courage to act upon it regardless of the consequences."

A former U.S. Marine who served in Iraq, Moulton said that any police officers or veterans who are found to have been part of the riot should be prosecuted, but noted "only about 20 veterans" have been identified as part of the attack thus far.

"It's a very small percentage," he determined. "You have one thousand times more troops defending the Capitol than (veterans who) were attacking it.

"It's a surreal time," he concluded. "But it's an important time for our country."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)

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