White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany took the podium on Thursday to make a brief statement "on behalf of the entire White House," rather than "on behalf of the president" as usual.
In response to the mob of Trump supporters who broke into the Capitol building on Wednesday to block Congress from certifying the presidential election results, leaving four people dead, McEnany said the White House believes the "violence we saw yesterday at our nation's Capitol was appalling, reprehensible and antithetical to the American way."
"We condemn it — the president and this administration — in the strongest possible terms," she continued. She called for "those that broke the law" to be prosecuted. She did not mention that President Trump had encouraged supporters to march to the Capitol and "fight" the certification.
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McEnany then compared her condemnation of the Capitol rioters to her criticism of those who protested against racial injustice over the summer, noting that she supports only the right to "peaceably assemble" in both cases. "What we saw yesterday afternoon ... was not that," she said.
"Those who violently besieged our Capitol are the opposite of everything this administration stands for," she said, also insisting that White House staff is working "an orderly transition of power."
The statement was just under two minutes, did not mention Trump by name, and McEnany took no questions. Watch the full statement below. Summer Meza
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