Two former defense secretaries are denouncing Wednesday’s events in Washington, D.C. and the president’s role in enflaming the violence, including one that served for Donald Trump.
James Mattis, who served as the country’s 26th Secretary of Defense until his resignation in Janaury 2019, released a strongly-worded statement late Wednesday on the events in the nation’s capital:
"Today's violent assault on our Capitol, an effort to subjugate American democracy by mob rule, was fomented by Mr. Trump. His use of the Presidency to destroy trust in our election and to poison our respect for fellow citizens has been enabled by pseudo political leaders whose names will live in infamy as profiles in cowardice. Our Constitution and our Republic will overcome this stain and We the People will come together again in our never-ending effort to form a more perfect Union, while Mr. Trump will deservedly be left a man without a country."
Former Monterey Congressman, Secretary of Defense, White House Chief of Staff and CIA Director Leon Panetta spoke to KCBS Radio's Patti Reising and Jeff Bell following the riot at the U.S. Capitol.
"I never imagined that I would see what I did today at the United States Capitol," Panetta told KCBS Radio. "I think there was certainly enough evidence that these protesters were going to do exactly what they did and that somehow sufficient security was not provided around the Capitol to make sure that it would not happen and we saw the results of that which were very disturbing to watch."
Earlier this week, Panetta and the other nine living former defense secretaries took the unprecedented step of penning an op-ed for The Washington Post saying the election has been decided and there is no role for the military in changing the results.
"Very frankly, it was exactly what transpired today that made us very worried that something like that could be used to have the president try to misuse the military in order to assure some kind of change in the election," Panetta said.
Several injuries were reported, including one shooting death in the halls of the Capitol. Many criticized President Trump for not acting with urgency to quell the violence, instead opting to tweet his support for law enforcement before releasing a controversial taped statement on social media hours later.
"There’s no question that any other president, at least in my lifetime, would have exercised leadership of the presidency by taking charge and making sure that peace was restored on Capitol Hill and that those who were protesting were cleared from the Capitol," he added.
Panetta added the president’s "words probably were more reassuring to the protesters than in any way urging them to stop."
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