After President Donald Trump in a short video posted to Twitter Thursday evening acknowledged President-elect Joe Biden’s victory and pledged an orderly transition of power, Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-Shirley) issued a statement to his constituents acknowledging the results of the election.
On Wednesday, Zeldin sought to block certification of the election by voting to sustain objections to the results in Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Zeldin last night stopped short of endorsing the certification of the election.
“Right now, I am not going to dwell on any doubt,” he said, “but to recommit to working towards a vigorous defense of lady liberty at all costs, and the pursuit of unity whenever possible.”
Zeldin also stopped short of congratulating the President-elect and pledging to work with the incoming administration.
Unlike many other Republican lawmakers and members of the administration present and past, Zeldin, a stalwart Trump supporter, has not acknowledged the President’s role in inciting the riot at the Capitol Wednesday.
Following a rally at which the President, his sons and personal attorney Rudolph Giuliani condemned the members of Congress who were about to certify the election results and urged the crowd to march to the Capitol in a show of strength Giuliani called “trial by combat,” thousands of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol, overwhelming Capitol Police, and took control of the building. The mob disrupted congressional proceedings and vandalized the historic federal building, breaking windows, doors and furniture and ransacking some congressional offices.
Five people died in the rampage, including, last night, Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, a 12-year member of the force who died of injuries sustained in the violence, Capitol Police said in a statement. A 35-year-old woman, Ashli Babbitt, died of a gunshot wound Wednesday as she climbed into the Capitol building through a window smashed by rioters. Three others died as a result of what police called medical emergencies.
“I just returned home from our nation’s Capitol after witnessing firsthand from inside the House chamber yesterday the best of America clash with some of the worst of it in a moment of my life I will never forget,” Zeldin said in his statement last night.
More than 50 people so far have been charged with various federal crimes, including assault and weapons charges.
Yesterday, the Capitol Police chief and the sergeants-at-arms of the House and Senate resigned under pressure from Congressional leaders.
Various members of the Trump administration also resigned in aftermath of Wednesday’s events. They include two members of the Cabinet, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, the Envoy to Northern Ireland and former White House budget director and chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, a deputy national security adviser, the chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, the First Lady’s chief of staff and press secretary and the White House deputy press secretary.
Some on Capitol Hill have called for the President to resign, while others, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, called for his immediate removal. Pelosi said there was “overwhelming support” among Democrats for a precedent-setting second impeachment if the Vice President and Cabinet did not invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the President.
The top federal prosecutor in D.C., acting U.S. attorney Michael Sherwin, told reporters in a phone conference yesterday prosecutors are looking at “all actors,” not just people who participated in the melee but also those who “played some ancillary role,” including, potentially, the President himself, who at Wednesday’s rally had urged the crowd to “fight like hell” before urging them to head to the Capitol.
Last night, the President in his video called the actions of the rioters “a heinous attack.” Earlier in the day, Giuliani called the violence “shameful.”
Zeldin last night asked his constituents to pray.
“I love our country and I ask for your prayers tonight for each other, for any hope of unity, for your wisdom, for a peaceful transition of power, for President Trump and Vice President Pence, and for President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris,” Zeldin said.
“For this moment, let’s take one collective deep breath, recharge and renew our spirit for whatever lies ahead,” Zeldin said. “We are all Americans.”
Statement From Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY01) on 2020 Election by RiverheadLOCAL on Scribd
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