President-elect Joe Biden briefly addressed the nation while Donald Trump's coup continued at the Capitol. "This is not a protest, this is an insurrection" Biden said. "Democracy is fragile and to preserve it requires people of good will." He called on Trump directly "to go on national television now to fulfill his oath, defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege."
"At this hour," Biden said, "our democracy is under unprecedented assault unlike anything we've seen in modern times." He went on: "Let me be very clear, the scenes of chaos at the Capitol do not reflect the true America, do not represent who we are. What we're seeing are a small number of extremists dedicated to lawlessness. This is not dissent, it's disorder, it's chaos. It borders on sedition. And it must end. Now. I call on this mob to pull back and allow the work of democracy go forward." He called the certification of the Electoral College vote, which the protesters disrupted and which many Republicans had unprecedentedly planned to vote against, a "sacred ritual."
“This God-awful display today is bringing home to every Republican and Democrat and independent in the nation that we must step up,” he said, adding: “So, President Trump, step up.”