Sen. Ben Sasse unloaded on President Trump after his supporters stormed the Capitol, saying the chief executive was responsible for the unprecedented assault.
“Today, the United States Capitol — the world’s greatest symbol of self-government — was ransacked while the leader of the free world cowered behind his keyboard — tweeting against his vice president for fulfilling the duties of his oath to the Constitution,” Mr. Sasse, Nebraska Republican, said.
His remarks came after demands for Mr. Trump to take to television to get his supporters to go home.
The president instead released a one-minute taped video on Twitter and Facebook urging supporters to “go home,” while repeating faulty claims that he won the election in a landslide and was being denied a second term because of fraud.
That video followed a day’s worth of tweets from Mr. Trump lashing out at Republicans who weren’t backing his electoral challenge — including his own vice president.
Mr. Sasse minced no words in saying Mr. Trump was at the root of the attack.
“This violence was the inevitable and ugly outcome of the president’s addiction to constantly stoking division,” he said.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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