'Blood Is On The President's Hands,' Moulton Says Trump Must Be Accountable For Capitol Riot
BOSTON (CBS) - Massachusetts Congressman Seth Moulton said President Trump must be held accountable for the riot at the U.S. Capitol that left four people dead.
In an interview with WBZ-TV Thursday, Moulton said, "Let's be absolutely clear, there's one person who is fundamentally involved and that's the President of the United States."
The president released a statement overnight saying there will be an orderly transition on January 20, but he did not condemn the riot.
"The President of the United States told his crowd of supporters at the White House to march to the Capitol, to be violent and to attack the seat of government. He incited and inspired this mob and he's also the same president who refused to call out the National Guard to protect us, to protect not just Congress, lawmakers, but to protect our democracy as the United States of America," Moulton, a U.S. Marine veteran, said.
"The lack of security is the president's fault. The assault itself is the president's fault and that's why I'm calling on the president to be held accountable."
Some, like Massachusetts Congressman Bill Keating, have called for the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment and have the president removed from office. Moulton supports that, even though there's only 13 days left in Trump's term.
"It's the right thing to do. It's the honorable thing to do by the law. If a CEO of a company is about to retire and steals a million dollars on the last day, nobody says, 'Oh well, it was the last day, don't worry about it.' You still hold that CEO accountable and that's exactly what we need to do to uphold the laws of this country, a country that's founded on a principal that nobody is above the law," he told WBZ.
Lawmakers also want an investigation into how unprepared the Capitol Police were to handle the massive breach of security.
"The president had no problem calling out the National Guard in the face of peaceful Black Lives Matter protests this summer. But he refused to call out the guard to hold back his supporters. The blood is on the president's hands here. This is clearly the president's fault," Moulton said.
"We also need to ask some questions of the Capitol Police because they were understaffed, they were not supported. But still, there are videos of Capitol police taking selfies with protestors, of them even opening the gates so certain protestors could get in. What a far cry from how we saw law enforcement handle peaceful protests this past summer. There's clearly going to have to be an investigation and we're going to ask a lot of questions about what happened."
