Suozzi: Trump ‘Instigated’ Riot, Must Be Held Accountable

WASHINGTON, DC — U.S. Rep. Thomas Suozzi expressed concern Wednesday over intelligence reports of planned violence by supporters of President Donald Trump — impeached for inciting the Capitol insurrection last week — in the coming days leading up to the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

In a statement released following Congress’ vote to impeach Trump, Suozzi cited intelligence reports that “thousands of armed militias and white supremacists” are planning to march on the Capitol again on and before Jan. 20. The congressman asked his colleagues on both sides of the aisle to join with him in calling on Trump to denounce the violence and tell his supporters to stay home “to ensure a peaceful transition of power.”

“Mr. President, you have not put America first and now you must be removed,” he stated.

Members of the boogaloo movement, which follows ideology supporting a second Civil War, together with white supremacists might seek to capitalize on the aftermath of the breach by “conducting attacks to destabilize and force a climactic conflict in the United States,” according to a report by the National Counterterrorism Center and Homeland Security Departments, as reported in The New York Times. Trump on Wednesday issued a statement to supporters calling on them to “ease tensions and calm tempers” The Times reports.

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Suozzi recounted the chaotic scene as he and his colleagues were told to take out gas masks as the Capitol was breached and gunshots rang out in the Chamber. He referred to the rioters as “criminals who desecrated the Capitol.” He said some rioters wore army-style fatigues, waved Confederate and pro-Trump flags, and donned Nazi swastika symbols. One man he saw wore a shirt displaying the words, “Camp Auschwitz – Staff,” making an Anti-Semitic reference to the notorious Nazi concentration camp in Poland.

“President Trump instigated this and must be held accountable,” Suozzi stated.

Trump strayed from his duty protecting the country and its people last week when thousands stormed the Capitol building, Suozzi said, adding that instead, the outgoing president “built a mob” and filled the people who were part of it with “lies, and encouraged them to ‘fight to stop the steal.’”

Suozzi released a video on his Facebook page showing those moments. In the video, you can see staff hurriedly escorted to safety through a corridor and then police officers ordering those in the room to take cover. The video has since been taken down.