Biden calls on Trump to ‘step up’ and ask his supporters to withdraw from Capitol

President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday demanded that President Donald Trump “step up” to urge the mob that overtook the U.S. Capitol to withdraw and meet the challenge of a crisis he said “borders on sedition.”

“I call on President Trump to go on national TV now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege,” Biden said, speaking from Wilmington, Del.

“At this hour, our democracy is under unprecedented assault unlike anything we’ve seen in modern times,” Biden said. “An assault on the citadel of liberty, the Capitol itself. An assault on the people’s representatives and the Capitol Hill police sworn to protect them. And the public servants who work at the heart of our republic. An assault on the rule like few times we’ve ever seen it.”

Biden made his remarks shortly before Trump released a videotaped address, telling his supporters to go home but repeating unsubstantiated accusations that the election had been stolen.

Congress was meeting to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, a traditionally routine process that has been thrown into tumult because, with Trump’s encouragement, some GOP lawmakers planned to object to the certification in select states. That process was underway when the riot began in the Capitol, forcing lawmakers to evacuate.

In a joint statement, Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also called on Trump to ask his supporters to withdraw.

This story was originally published January 6, 2021 at 4:36 PM.