Storming the Capitol is “not representing who America is,” the ag secretary said
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
The secretary of agriculture is one of the latest federal officials to give their opinion on what took place at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
Speaking in Georgia Thursday while announcing rural broadband funding for Evans and Tattnal counties, Sonny Perdue responded to the images of President Trump supporters breaching security and entering the Capitol as a joint session of Congress worked to certify Joe Biden’s victory in the November presidential election.
“I’m very discouraged by the people who were there who felt compelled to breach the Capitol and do the things they did,” he said, WJCL reported. “That’s not representing who America is, it’s certainly not representing who Georgians are.”
The group of Trump supporters descended on the Capitol shortly after 1:00 p.m. after attending the president’s “Save America Rally” Wednesday morning, where he continued to insist the results of the presidential election was unfair and encouraged the crowd to head for the Capitol.
“So, we’re going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue,” the president said near the end of his rally. “We’re going to try and give our Republicans, the weak ones, because the strong ones don’t need any of our help, we’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”
The president should have used different language with his supporters, Perdue said.
“I’ve been a supporter of the president based on his policies, but I think inciting people to not have a peaceful transition of power was not the right thing to do,” he said. “And I’m disappointed in that.”
Five people have died as a result of the incident.
While inside the Capitol, police were in an armed standoff with some of the president’s supporters at the front door of the House of Representatives.
One person made their way to the Senate floor and stood at the dais, one man was photographed carrying a lectern from the House of Representatives and another entered the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Multiple Trump administration officials submitted resignations following the incident at the Capitol.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao are the only two members of President Trumps’ direct cabinet to resign.
Some remaining cabinet members have discussed invoking the 25th Amendment, ABC News reported.
Secretary Perdue hasn’t been contacted directly about such a move, he said.