De Blasio, NYC Leaders Condemn Pro-Trump Mob Attack On Capitol

NEW YORK CITY — The unprecedented assault on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob prompted a wave of furious condemnation from New York City’s leaders.

A visibly upset Mayor Bill de Blasio on Thursday pulled no punches against the rioters or President Donald Trump, who sought to halt the lawful certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s win.

The scenes from Wednesday — crowds breaching the Capitol, ransacking lawmakers’ offices, waving Confederate and Make America Great Again flags — were the culmination of a racist, nationalist movement built by Trump, de Blasio said. The mob easily could have killed lawmakers as they took over the Senate chamber and other parts of the building, he said.

“What we saw yesterday, literally that’s what the path to fascism looks like,” he said.

Trump’s actions stoking the mob through unfounded claims of election fraud amounted to sedition and treason, de Blasio said. Lawmakers should pursue impeachment or remove Trump via the 25th Amendment, even if the president only has two weeks left in his term, he said.

“He shouldn’t be president anymore. He is a dangerous man,” de Blasio said.

Other New York City leaders condemned the attack on the Capitol, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo characterized as a “failed coup.”

City Council Speaker Corey Johnson called it a disgrace for the country.

“My thoughts are with all those who were put in harms way by Donald Trump’s reckless lies,” he tweeted.

What happened today in the Capitol is a disgrace for our country and an affront to our democratic ideals.

My thoughts are with all those who were put in harms way by Donald Trump’s reckless lies. The Biden-Harris Administration truly cannot come soon enough.
— NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson (@NYCSpeakerCoJo) January 6, 2021

Jumaane Williams, the city’s public advocate, in a series of tweets labeled the attack as an attempted insurrection and Trump as a “white supremacist tyrant & wanna be dictator.” He also called for lawmakers to impeach Trump and invoke the 25th Amendment.

“The President of the United States sent domestic terrorists to take the Capitol,” he wrote. “They followed orders.”

The President of the United States sent domestic terrorists to take the Capitol.

They followed orders. pic.twitter.com/yJB3b8F2Io
— Jumaane Williams (@JumaaneWilliams) January 6, 2021

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez tweeted she was barricaded for several hours — an ordeal she promised to tell more about “later.”

She then sent out a one-word tweet.

“Impeach,” she wrote.

Impeach.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) January 7, 2021