JUST IN: Trump Commits to Orderly Transition of Power

"President Trump Delivers Remarks" (public domain) by The White House

Minutes after the Congress declared Joe Biden’s election win, President Trump announced on Thursday that “there will be an orderly transition” on January 20.

President Trump committed to an “orderly transition” of powers to President-elect Joe Biden last Thursday after the Congress confirmed Biden’s win. The striking statement came hours after violence stormed the U.S. capitol as people fought for the election results. 

According to a statement that the White House released, Trump said, “Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out. Nevertheless, there will be an orderly transition on January 20.”

The President was not able to release the statement himself after his Twitter account was temporarily locked. According to Twitter, this move to block Trump’s account was decided after “repeated and severe violations of Twitter’s civic integrity policy. 

Previously, Trump has been pushing claims that the election was stolen and that there was widespread fraud that happened during the election. However, former Attorney General William Barr declared that this statement is “baseless” as there has “no evidence to support” said claim. 

The protestors descended on the Capitol allegedly after Trump told protesters at a rally near the White House, “we’re going to have to fight much harder.”

After the assault on the Capitol, Trump posted a video on Twitter where he released a statement addressing what happened on Wednesday. In the video, Trump said, “I know your pain. I know your hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side. But you have to go home now. We have to have peace.”

He then pleaded with the people to respect law and order and said, we don’t want anybody hurt. It’s a very tough period of time.” He continued and said, “this was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people.”

After what transpired in the U.S. Capitol, President Trump faced heightened pressure from his previous supporters to accept Biden’s win. Among them was Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C), who, after the Capitol protest, said that Biden was “lawfully elected” and that it is not time for Trump to accept it. 

Where’s all the security?

As the mob of election protesters swarmed the Capitol building, one woman, a retired Air Force Veteran, was shot and killed, three others had died from separate medical complications. 

However, the question arose as to where was all the security?

The answer to this is, “it’s complicated.”

According to the federal authorities’ report, before the protest, they wanted to maintain a “minimally visible presence” to avoid “inflaming tensions.” The authorities believed that this is due to the months of violent protests and riots that occurred all over the country. 

Yet, despite the knowledge of the impending protest, the federal enforcement agency that was tasked to protect the complex declined to request for additional back up from the Department of Homeland Security. 

This failure by the United States Capitol Police resulted in unprepared Capitol Police Officers, were most of them tackled the scene without riot gear or other protective equipment. 

Although it still remains unclear as to how many Capitol Police officers were on duty when the mob of protesters swarmed the Capitol, the whole Capitol Police force is made up of 1,900 officers. This left those who were tasked with defending the grounds vastly outnumbered as rioters breached the building.

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