Former US President George W. Bush has slammed Donald Trump’s loyalists in Congress, accusing them of provoking the incumbent POTUS' supporters to storm the US Capitol building.
“It is a sickening and heartbreaking sight,” George W. Bush said in a statement. “This is how election results are disputed in a banana republic - not our democratic republic.”
“[Mitt] Romney, who has been an outspoken critic of the president from his post as Utah senator over the last two years, said the chaos on Capitol Hill was due to a "selfish man's injured pride and the outrage of his supporters whom he has deliberately misinformed for the past two months and stirred to action,” he added.
Moreover, the former president blasted Republicans in the House and Senate for agreeing to object to the Electoral College results.
President Donald Trump’s supporters raged in the US Capitol building as Congress was trying to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s election victory, developments which drew calls for impeachment and invocation of the 25th Amendment to remove the incumbent president from office.
In the early evening, Congress resumed the session after officials said they had secured the US Capitol building and the House is expected to finalise the process soon.
A curfew is now in effect in the District of Columbia and according to reports, law enforcement agencies are now pushing protesters away from Capitol Hill. At least 52 arrests were made, four people died during the violence, and around a half dozen weapons seized.
The congressional approval of the presidential election result is traditionally a mere ceremonial formality, but became a bigger event due to Trump’s refusal to concede after the mid-December Electoral College met to officially bless Biden’s win. Trump has repeatedly claimed that the election was stolen due to a vast fraud conspiracy – allegations that have been refuted by election security agencies and the Justice Department.