NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – Gov. Phil Murphy is sending 500 members of the New Jersey National Guard to Washington a day after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building.
"Upon the request of the United States National Guard Bureau, I am authorizing the deployment of 500 members of the New Jersey National Guard to Washington, D.C. to protect our democracy and facilitate the peaceful transition of power," Murphy said in a statement Thursday.
"Our republic is built on the principles of democracy, peace, and the right of the American people to freely choose their leaders. The brave men and women of our National Guard will be deployed in order to preserve these sacred principles," the governor said.
Speak Thursday morning, Murphy said: "The scene that unfolded yesterday in the Capitol Building will go down as one of the darkest days in our nation's history. Every insurrectionist who tried to overthrow the free and fair election of President-elect Biden should be identified, arrested, and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law for desecrating the cradle of American democracy. They should be given no quarter. They are not patriots. They are the antithesis of what it means to be an American."
"This was not a protest," Murphy said ."It was an act of domestic terrorism spurred on by the president himself and his minions."
Murphy announced Wednesday that 50 New Jersey State Police troopers were headed to Washington to assist law enforcement.
On Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he was deploying 1,000 members of the New York National Guard to Washington.
Cuomo said the National Guard would "aid and facilitate the peaceful transition of presidential power."
