Leading Trump-world figures are denouncing the violent occupation of the U.S. Capitol and imploring President Donald Trump to do the same.
Alyssa Farah, Trump’s former White House communications director urged him on Wednesday afternoon to “condemn” his supporters who stormed the Capitol amid congressional certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
“Condemn this now, @realDonaldTrump — you are the only one they will listen to. For our country!” Farah wrote on Twitter.
“Dear MAGA- I am one of you. Before I worked for @realDonaldTrump, I worked for @MarkMeadows & @Jim_Jordan & the @freedomcaucus,” she added later Wednesday in another post to Twitter. “I marched in the 2010 Tea Party rallies. I campaigned w/ Trump & voted for him. But I need you to hear me: the Election was NOT stolen. We lost.
The appeal from the president’s former top spokesperson comes after Trump encouraged supporters at a rally outside the White House earlier Wednesday to march on the Capitol. Taken together, the pleas from Farah and others marked the most significant denunciations of the president from within his inner circle across his five years — four as president and one as a candidate — in the political spotlight.
The rebukes also marked a dramatic shift from some of the president’s most ardent supporters, who until Wednesday had largely been loathe to break with Trump’s baseless claims that the election had been stolen from him. Most had at one point or another excused or enabled the president’s norm-shattering, divisive and incendiary rhetoric.
Trump’s former homeland security adviser, Tom Bossert, called Wednesday’s insurrection “un-American” — and pointed the finger directly at the man in the Oval Office.
“The President undermined American democracy baselessly for months,” Bossert tweeted. “As a result, he’s culpable for this siege, and an utter disgrace. Despite of him, not because of him, police will regain control and prosecute those involved.”
The House and Senate were both forced into lockdown after Trump’s supporters breached the building. Vice President Mike Pence was rushed out of the Senate chamber, and images from the House appeared to show an armed standoff at that chamber’s front door.
Trump has tweeted twice since rioters breached the Capitol complex, grinding to a halt Congress’ certification of Biden’s victory and plunging the nation’s capital to chaos, though neither message urged protesters in the building to leave.
That’s insufficient, former chief of staff Mick Mulvaney tweeted Wednesday afternoon.
“The President’s tweet is not enough,” Mulvaney wrote. “He can stop this now and needs to do exactly that. Tell these folks to go home.”
Reince Priebus, another ex-chief of staff, denounced the rioters as “nothing but domestic terrorists” and called their actions “pure insanity.”
“These violent people have no respect for democracy,” Priebus wrote on Twitter.
Brad Parscale, Trump’s erstwhile campaign manager, said the riots would sully the president’s political legacy.
“This is not MAGA. We are not ANTIFA and the left,” Parscale tweeted. “We should do it the correct way, leave the Capital and Stop! The world is laughing at us. Live to fight in elections in the future. Save this country by growing our base and winning elections.”
Kellyanne Conway, another former campaign manager and senior White House adviser, was more direct in her plea for the violent protest to end.
“STOP. Just STOP. Peace. Law and Order. Safety for All,” Conway tweeted.
Members of Trump’s family also called for the violence to stop.
“American Patriots — any security breach or disrespect to our law enforcement is unacceptable,” Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and senior adviser, wrote on Twitter.“ The violence must stop immediately. Please be peaceful.”
She quickly caught flak for referring to those who stormed the Capitol as patriots and deleted the message shortly thereafter. She also wrote in a later post that only “peaceful protest is patriotic.“
As the chaos escalated, Trump first tweeted an attack at Pence for not aiding his effort to overturn the election results.
He later followed up with another post that did not explicitly tell his supporters to leave the Capitol complex.
“Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement,” he wrote. “They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!”
Trump‘s subsequent message was similar, while asking rioters to stop the violence.
“I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful,“ Trump wrote. “No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order — respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!“
Trump ultimately did instruct the rioters to leave, posting a one-minute video online telling them to “go home now” while praising them as “special” and insisting the election was illegitimate.
“I know how you feel, but go home and go home in peace,” the outgoing president said.