IL Lawmakers Condemn Trump For ‘Coup Attempt’ At U.S. Capitol

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Illinois’ congressional delegation united Wednesday in fierce condemnation of President Donald Trump’s “attempted coup” after extremist supporters overran the U.S. Capitol while lawmakers were certifying his Electoral College loss.

Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth said she was on her way to speak on the Senate floor Wednesday afternoon against Republican attempts to delay President-elect Joe Biden’s victory when U.S. Capitol police told her to barricade herself inside the building.

Duckworth thanked Capitol police for “doing a great job protecting us” from Trump supporters who are following “a wannabe tin-pot dictator who wants to steal the election.”

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While they have successfully delayed the certification of Biden’s Electoral College win over Trump, the insurrectionists will not stop him from taking office in two weeks, Duckworth said on MSNBC.

She promised to oppose any efforts from her Republican colleagues in the Senate to block Biden’s win, if that continues when the body reconvenes.

“I will not yield to these protesters who are attempting a coup,” Duckworth said.

Speaking around 3 p.m. Wednesday, Biden called on Trump to tell his supporters to end the “siege” on the U.S. Capitol.

“It’s not protest, it’s insurrection,” Biden said.

U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who has been one of the most vocal Republicans against Trump’s unfounded election conspiracy theories over the past few months, also called Wednesday’s insurrection a “coup attempt” and laid the blame squarely at Trump’s feet.

“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.

Amid the chaos, my statement here: pic.twitter.com/6CMZHeYhPq
— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) January 6, 2021

Since his loss to Biden, Trump has “encouraging conspiracy theories, threatened election officials and bullied the entire Republican Party to overthrow the will of the people,” 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 rejct these treasonous acts if we are ever to win back the trust of a majority of this country,” Kinzinger said.

Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin also blamed Trump, saying his supporters stormed the Capitol with his approval.

“This shameful chapter in our nation’s history is the real legacy of Donald Trump,” Durbin tweeted. “On January 20, we can begin the process of healing the wounds of this country and start to put this national nightmare behind us.”

Rep. Bill Foster (D-11th District) said the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol is the result of “weeks of undermining democracy” by Trump and other Republican lawmakers.

The “blame for this disgraceful situation lays at the feet of the President and the Members of Congress who have put loyalty to him above their loyalty to the Constitution,” Foster tweeted. “Every Member should call this what it is: an attempted coup, and call for it to end immediately.”

Rep. Sean Casten (D-6th District) said Wednesday afternoon that Trump “and his enablers have unleashed a beast,” and they are the only people who “MAY have the power to get it under control.”

“This is an attempted coup,” Casten tweeted. “We need a whole of government approach to secure our democracy right now, not some childish partisan posturing.”

Rep. Brad Schneider (D-10th District) tweeted around 2:20 p.m. Wednesday that he briefly sheltered in place in the U.S. Capitol before being evacuated from the building.

"This afternoon, as I was in the House Chamber for the counting of the electoral college ballots, protesters breached the security areas and entered the Capitol," Schneider tweeted. "I am currently safe and secure."

Schneider was seen sheltering in place inside the House chamber in an AP photo.

People shelter in the House gallery earlier Wednesday as protesters stormed the Capitol building. pic.twitter.com/a3adQHLFsO
— NBC News (@NBCNews) January 6, 2021

Illinois Rep. Marie Newman (D-3rd District) said she was safe and sheltering in place “as this situation continues to unfold.”

“I’m praying for the safety of all my colleagues, their staff and for this entire nation,” Newman said in a message posted to Twitter at 2 p.m.

Rep. Mike Quigley (D-5th District) said Trump supporters committed an act of domestic terrorism Wednesday after “members of the GOP applauded an attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair election.”

Quigley tweeted at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday that the U.S. House will continue its Electoral College certification process “as soon as the House floor is clear.”

“I want to be clear: while this clear act of domestic terrorism may have succeeding in delaying proceedings today, Joe Biden will be sworn in as President on January 20,” he tweeted.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot issued a statement Wednesday saying she was “in disbelief with what is unfolding in D.C. right now.”

“President Trump and his enablers incited this violence. Shame on every elected officials in Congress and elsewhere who fomented this anti-democratic insurrection by extremists,” Lightfoot said. “This is not democracy. This is a disgrace.”

Rep. Danny Davis (D-7th District) shared a similar sentiment on Twitter.

“Today is a complete and utter embarrassment,” he wrote.