A pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol on Wednesday and breached the building while protesting Congress certifying President-elect Joe Biden‘s victory. One member of the mob went a step further and broke into Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi‘s office. He posed for a photo and then left a note on her desk.
Photos taken for Getty Images Wednesday showed the man sitting at Pelosi’s desk with one leg up on her desk and a foot on some files. He had his phone in hand to seemingly document the moment while an American flag sat draped over a nearby piece of furniture. Another photo from Getty showed the message that he had scrawled on a file folder, which read: “WE WILL NOT BACK DOWN.”
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According to the New York Times, the man was not the only member of the mob to storm her august suite of offices. The group flipped over tables and pulled photos off the walls. Earlier in the afternoon, Pelosi joined Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer in calling for President Donald Trump to tell the protesters to leave the Capitol “immediately.”
“We are calling on President Trump to demand that all protesters leave the U.S. Capitol and Capitol Grounds immediately,” the Democrat leaders said in a joint statement. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, on the other hand, spoke to CBS News and said that he condemned the violence in the Capitol. He said that he had talked to President Donald Trump and told him to “talk to the nation, to tell them to stop this.”
The president responded to the mob in multiple ways. He initially sent out a series of tweets calling for them to respect law and order and remain peaceful. Trump asked the mob to respect the members of the police force. He later released a video telling them to go home in peace. Although he reiterated his belief that the election “had been stolen.”
“I know your pain; I know your hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us,” Trump said in the video. “It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side.” He continued and said that “this was a fraudulent election” but that they “can’t play into the hands of these people.” Trump then told the mob to go home.
“We have to have peace. So go home,” he said. “We love you; you’re very special. You’ve seen what happens; you see how others are treated that are so bad and so evil. I know how you feel, but go home and go home in peace.”
