‘The Project’ host Lisa Wilkinson has branded Donald Trump a “criminal” following Wednesday’s pro-Trump riots at the US Capitol.
During a segment on the Channel 10 news and current affairs program on Thursday evening, Lisa said watching footage of Trump supporters clashing with law enforcement officials at the Capitol building was extremely disturbing.
“You just feel like you’re watching a bad movie, don’t you?” she told her co-hosts.
She then took aim at the outgoing president who had earlier told his supporters that President-elect Joe Biden stole his victory at last November’s election.
“The guy is clearly unhinged,” said Lisa. “The fact that he refuses to allow this peaceful transfer of power, in my mind makes him a criminal.
“Mike Pence has been loyal to him for four years, there was no thanks to Pence today from Trump. All of those people who have allowed this to happen, it was always going to end like this. Even still, it is so awful to watch this Great Western democracy just completely collapse.”
Watch the clip below:
On Wednesday local time hundreds who support Trump arrived at the US Capitol, forcing their way in while a joint session of Congress met to formally certify the results of the 2020 election.
As Trump supporters clashed with law enforcement officials and broke windows, scaled walls and pushed through barricades, the Capitol office building went into lockdown and members of Congress were evacuated. The rioters breached the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, with a man posing for a photo with his feet on a desk.
One woman was fatally shot outside the House chamber and three others died in “medical emergencies.” Hours later, Congress resumed and finished their count of the Electoral College votes.
Trump shared a video message on Twitter late in the afternoon in which he asked protesters to “go home in peace”, though erroneously repeated the election was stolen from him.
“We love you,” he told the rioters in the clip, adding, “You’re very special”. Earlier in the day Trump told his supporters at a rally on the National Mall that the election had been stolen from him.
On Thursday Trump eventually acknowledged Biden will be the next US president and that there will be an “orderly transition” after the nation’s electoral vote count officially confirmed the Democrat as the election winner.
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