House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Said the pro-Trump protesters who violated the Capitol on Wednesday “chose their whiteness over democracy.”
“It was an epiphany for the world to see that there are people in our country led by this president, at the moment, who chose his whiteness over democracy,” said the spokesman.
Pelosi then turned to those who died of COVID-19, who were disproportionately minorities, she said.
“When that attack was taking place on Capitol Hill, 3,865 people in our country died of coronavirus, many of them people of color because of the injustice of it all,” said Pelosi.
“The next day, on Thursday, 4,000 people died of coronavirus. Why? Because decisions were made at the highest level, months ago, in the Oval Office, of denial, distortion, delay, calling it a ‘farce’.”
IMPEACHMENT ARTICLE AGAINST TRUMP TO BE INTRODUCED MONDAY AT THE HOUSE
Pelosi is expected to lead the House again through a round of impeachment for the president in connection with the Capitol riot.
The impeachment document says Trump “deliberately made statements that encouraged – and predictably resulted in – imminent illegal action on Capitol Hill.”
The Chamber, after securing 185 co-sponsors, will propose impeachment on Monday, although it is unlikely to pass the Senate. Majority leader Mitch McConnell noted that the Senate is in recess until January 19.
Pelosi pointed to the date of the riot, the Christian Feast of Epiphany, January 6.
“I thought it would be an epiphany for those who opposed our democracy to see the light,” said Pelosi. “Instead, it was an epiphany for the world to see that there are people in our country, led by this president, at the moment, who have chosen their whiteness over democracy. That is what it is about.”
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She said the president’s “complicity” in the riots that sent lawmakers underground and left five dead “cannot be overstated.”
“The instigation of the President of the United States must and will be dealt with,” concluded Pelosi. “It is just a few days before we inaugurate a new president.”
Trump gave a speech on Wednesday at the “Save America” rally before pandemonium broke out. He swore he would “never give in” and pressured Vice President Mike Pence to return the election “to the states” at the joint session of Congress to certify the results of the Electoral College.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.