Iran Press/America: Robert O'Brien, deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger and deputy chief of staff Chris Liddell are all considering resigning, according to the sources. Pottinger's resignation appears to be imminent, while others could sleep on it.
Earlier Wednesday, O'Brien took the unusual step of defending Vice President Mike Pence, as Trump has been consumed by the vice president's refusal to do his bidding instead of the mob that breached Capitol Hill. O'Brien said Pence showed courage as Trump lambasted him.
"I just spoke with Vice President Pence. He is a genuinely fine and decent man. He exhibited courage today as he did at the Capitol on 9/11 as a Congressman. I am proud to serve with him," O'Brien said
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump told a crowd of supporters gathered on the Ellipse near the White House that he planned to march with them to the Capitol building: "We're going to walk down to the Capitol. And we're gonna cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. And we're probably not going to be cheering, so much for some of them, because you'll never take back our country with weakness, you have to show strength, and you have to be strong," he said at his rally on the Ellipse."
In a video posted to social media after the mob overran Capitol Police and entered the country's legislative chambers, Trump sought to empathize with the rioters based on the lies he'd spread about a fraudulent election.
"I know your pain. I know you're hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us," Trump said in the video.
Over the past year, Trump proved to be eager to deploy the National Guard when violence broke out in other US cities, initially resisted doing so on Capitol Hill as the mob descended, a person familiar with the matter said.
White House staffers were visibly shaken by Trump's response to the mob breaching Capitol Hill. The President was borderline enthusiastic over the protests and did not want to condemn them, multiple people said.
Last night, 4 people died as supporters of President Donald Trump violently occupied the U.S. Capitol and over 50 people were arrested. Four of the arrests were related to guns.
D.C. police officials also say two pipe bombs were recovered, one outside the Democratic National Committee and one outside the Republican National Committee. Police found a cooler from a vehicle that had a long gun and Molotov cocktail on Capitol grounds.
Former US President Barack Obama has issued a statement on today’s events, calling the storming of the Capitol a moment of great dishonour and shame for the American nation.
Trump supporters stormed into the Congress building and tried to enter the building as the counting of the electoral college was underway.
Read More:
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