'Insurrection': Mitt Romney Goes After Capitol Attackers in Strong Statement

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney is condemning protesters who took over the capitol building on Wednesday afternoon. Romney called Wednesday's events an "insurrection" incited by President of the United States, Donald Trump. "We gather today 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 this very morning," he said in a statement.

"Those who choose to continue to support his dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate, democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy. They will be remembered for their role in this shameful episode in American history. That will be their legacy," he said. Romney continued, acknowledging the reason behind mounting tensions (which Trump also mentioned in his address on social media) in the U.S., "The objectors have claimed they are doing so on behalf of the voters. Have an audit, they say, to satisfy the many people who believe that the election was stolen. Please! No Congressional led audit will ever convince those voters, particularly when the President will continue to claim that the election was stolen."

"The best way we can show respect for the voters who are upset is by telling them the truth. That is the burden, and the duty, of leadership. The truth is that President-elect Biden won this election. President Trump lost. Scores of courts, the President's own Attorney General, and state election officials both Republican and Democrat have reached this unequivocal decision," he said.

During the series of Black Lives Matter protests in July, President Donald Trump announced he would deploy the military, citing the Insurrection Act of 1807, which states: "Whenever the President considers that unlawful obstructions, combinations, or assemblages, or rebellion against the authority of the United States, make it impracticable to enforce the laws of the United States in any State by the ordinary course of judicial proceedings, he may call into Federal service such of the militia of any State, and use such of the armed forces, as he considers necessary to enforce those laws or to suppress the rebellion."

He closed with a message speaking to the future of the republican party, given the current minority status in the Senate after Georgia's historic runoff election results. "Leader McConnell said that the vote today is the most important in his 40 plus years of public service. That is not because this vote reveals something about the election; it is because this vote reveals something about ourselves. I urge my colleagues to move forward with completing the electoral count, to refrain from further objections, and to unanimously affirm the legitimacy of the presidential election."