Boris Johnson says Donald Trump was ‘completely wrong’ to encourage US Capitol rioters

Michael Howie7 January 2021

Boris Johnson has said Donald Trump was “completely wrong” to encourage supporters to storm the US Capitol and to cast doubt on the presidential election result.

The Prime Minister - who has enjoyed a warm relationship with the US President - said he "unreservedly" condemned Mr Trump's actions following the extraordinary events in Washington.

Joe Biden was confirmed as the president-elect despite the violent scenes as a pro-Trump mob stormed the Capitol in an attempt to disrupt the proceedings.

The Prime Minister, who was born in the US, was asked whether Mr Trump was responsible for Wednesday’s chaos in Washington as he appeared at a Downing Street press conference on Thursday evening.

He said: “All my life America has stood from some very important things, an idea of freedom, an idea of democracy. As you suggest in so far as he encouraged people to storm the Capitol and in so far as the president consistently has cast doubt on the outcome of a free and fair election, I believe that that was completely wrong.

"I think what President Trump has been saying about that has been completely wrong. 

“I unreservedly condemn encouraging people to behave in the disgraceful way that they did in the Capitol. And all I can say is that I’m very pleased that the President-elect has been duly confirmed in office and that democracy has prevailed."

It was the first time Mr Johnson has publicly rebuked Mr Trump over the scenes of chaos at the Capitol, when hundreds of supporters of the president besieged the seat of American democracy.  

Reacting to Wednesday’s attack, the Prime Minister wrote: “Disgraceful scenes in U.S. Congress.”

"The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power."

Home Secretary Priti Patel said his statement following events at the Capitol on Wednesday, in which he said "we love you" to the rioters and repeated his baseless claims of electoral fraud, did "very little to de-escalate the situation".

"His comments directly led to the violence and so far he has failed to condemn that violence, and that is completely wrong," the Home Secretary said.

Mr Trump's personal Twitter account was also temporarily suspended, forcing him to release a statement via his social media director Dan Scavino, saying there would be an "orderly transition" to the Biden administration.

US Election 2020
Mr Johnson has previously enjoyed a warm relationship with the US President  
PA

"Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th," he said.

"I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted.

"While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it's only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in