'This Is A Coup Attempt:' IL Congressman Kinzinger

CHANNAHON, IL — Congressman Adam Kinzinger, the outspoken Republican from Channahon who is a loud and frequent critic of outgoing President Donald Trump, called Wednesday's chaos at the U.S. Capitol a "coup attempt," saying on Twitter, "I outright condemn this garbage."

Kinzinger also tweeted to the president, "you are done and your legacy will be a disaster."

Kinzinger reacted on Twitter by asking Republicans, "how is this not like Antifa?"

On Wednesday afternoon, CNN reported that Kinzinger said that conspiracy theories fueled the riots in the Capitol. "When you don't tell people the truth, you end up getting people to believe the conspiracies and the false proof, and you get Capitol storms like the one today. This is absolutely, utterly despicable, and every single Republican leader has got to call this out forcefully and be held accountable," CNN quoted Kinzinger as telling them.

"What we all saw today at the U.S. Capitol is not the America that stands as a beacon of freedom and hope for the world," Kinzinger said in a video posted to social media. "The storming of the Capitol was a coup attempt with the purpose of overturning the election of a duly elected president."

"The current president incited this coup, encouraged it and did little to protect the Capitol and the Constitution," Kinzinger said.

Kinzinger urged his fellow Republican lawmakers to cut ties with Trump and "forcefully denounce his actions."

"He is no longer the leader of our party, and our party must reject these treasonous acts if we are ever to win back the trust of a majority of this country," Kinzinger said.

On Wednesday, Patch reported that protesters stormed their way into the U.S. Capitol to halt the Electoral College certification of Joe Biden as the next President of the United States. The move overwhelmed Capitol Police, who evacuated members of Congress as violence escalated.
"I was on the House Floor, but my staff and I are safe," New Jersey Congressman Rep. Donald Norcross (D-1) said in a statement on Twitter. "This violence needs to end."

Related:

IL Reps, Duckworth Safe Amid 'Attempted Coup' At U.S. Capitol

Jason Addy, Patch Staff, contributed to this article