‘Totally Unacceptable’

Biden Calls Capitol Hill Uprising ‘Domestic Terrorism,’ Condemns Police Response

"If it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, they would have been treated very, very differently," the president-elect said Thursday.

In a solemn speech Thursday, President-elect Joe Biden condemned Wednesday’s pro-Trump riot at the U.S. Capitol, as well as the response from Capitol Police. “No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, they would have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol,” Biden said. “We all know that is true. And it is totally unacceptable. Totally unacceptable. The American people saw it in plain view,” he continued, hammering his fast on his lectern.

Several high-ranking officials have criticized the Capitol Police’s response—or lack thereof—to Wednesday’s riot. Incoming Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said Thursday he plans on firing the Senate’s sergeant-at-arms; Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the current majority leader, wrote in a statement Thursday that “a painstaking investigation and thorough review must now take place.”