Supporters of President Donald Trump climb the west wall of the the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Democrats and Republicans condemned pro-Donald Trump rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol angered about Congress attempting to certify the electoral vote.

After the riot erupted Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Howland, “sheltered in place” away from the mob.

Ryan put the blame for the violence at the feet of Trump, saying he “directed and orchestrated” it.

“It’s an unprecedented act by a president,” said Ryan, whose district includes most of Trumbull and Mahoning counties.

He added that it was an “insurrection” and “something we thought we’d never see in this country.”

Ryan also said there were “enormous strategic failures” by the Capitol police and the congressional sergeant at arms in preparing for the violence that should have been anticipated with groups of people upset with the presidential election outcome coming to Washington, D.C.

“The president was inciting this,” Ryan said.

Ryan also said members of Congress need to sit down and remove Trump from office, invoking the 25th Amendment, before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in Jan. 20.

“Do we want to have this man as president for the next two weeks?” Ryan said.

With the rioters entering the Capitol, U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, initially stayed on the House floor with colleagues, his spokesman said. He then was moved to a “secured location.”

In a statement, Johnson said: “I’m shocked and dismayed by the violence here in the Capitol. This is not the way Americans solve our problems.”

He also called the rioters “violent thugs who fought with police” and “this lawlessness is wrong and should be universally condemned.”

Johnson, whose district includes all of Columbiana County and southern Mahoning County, was among about 140 Republicans in the House to object to Biden’s victories in swing states the president-elect won in the November election. Congress was to certify the electoral vote Wednesday when the pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol.

LAW AND ORDER

U.S. Rep. Dave Joyce, R-Bainbridge, who went to a secure location, tweeted: “If you voted for the president, you also voted for law and order and to restore respect for law enforcement officers who risk their lives to keep our community safe. Put an end to this chaos and violence. It wasn’t acceptable earlier this year, and it isn’t acceptable” Wednesday.

Joyce, whose district includes part of Trumbull County, also said Wednesday that he wouldn’t object to the electoral count.

“No amount of political threats will bully me into violating” my “oath to God to uphold the Constitution.”

Trump has failed in dozens of attempts to get courts to overturn the results of the election that saw him lose the electoral vote to Biden 306 to 232 and lose the popular vote by more than 7 million votes. There’s been no credible evidence of Trump’s claims of widespread election fraud, something he repeated Wednesday in a statement that was meant to get the rioters to leave the Capitol.

Joyce said: “My support for (Trump) does not change the fact that over the last two months not a single state recount changed its results and no court, including those of Republican judges appointed by the president, determined it had been presented with any evidence to sustain any of the dozens of lawsuits alleging widespread fraud.”

Bill Binning, a former Mahoning County Republican Party chairman and retired chairman of the Youngstown State University political science department, said the rioting happened because “Trump and his minions are political rookies. They don’t understand government and don’t respect the Constitution. It’s terrible. It’s unprecedented in my memory. They’re hoodlums. They didn’t get their way so they’re rioting. It’s a sad day in America.”

Binning, who worked for former Ohio Gov. Jim Rhodes, a Republican, said Trump should have never been nominated, lost the election by a wide margin, and was responsible for Republicans losing control of the Senate.

‘UNACCEPTABLE VANDALISM’

U.S. Sen. Rob Portman, a Cincinnati-area Republican who also declined to object to the electoral count, said Wednesday: “The right to protest peacefully is protected under the Constitution, but the actions by violent mobs against our law enforcement and property at the U.S. Capitol building today are not. (Trump) should condemn this unacceptable vandalism and violence.”

In his statement, Trump failed to condemn the rioters, saying he understood why they were upset and told them to go home.

Joyce said Trump’s statement wasn’t good enough.

“These are criminals who are destroying our nation’s Capitol, threatening duly elected lawmakers and their staff, and endangering the officers sworn to protect them.”

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Cleveland Democrat, tweeted: “My staff and I are safe. The violence at the Capitol needs to end now. The lives of countless workers — journalists, staff and Capitol police — are being put at risk by this attack.”

Earlier in the day, Brown called congressional Republicans who objected to the electoral vote “jellyfish” and they “should be ashamed of themselves” for supporting Trump’s fraud claims.

Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican, said: “This is an embarrassment to our country,” and “an affront to our Constitution and everything we hold dear. Those who breached the Capitol breached the Constitution.”

Lt. Gov. Jon Husted, a Republican, tweeted: “What’s going on inside the U.S. Capitol looks like what we would see in a Third World nation. It does not look like America. It is not patriotic. The constitutional peaceful transfer of power is what makes America special. What’s happening right now is a sad day for America.”

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost issued a statement: “The rule of law means the same rules for everybody. Those of us who called for prosecution of the people who stormed the federal courthouse in Portland must apply the same demand to those who stormed the Capitol today. The color of your skin or the slogan upon your banner must not change what is and is not acceptable.

“Let all of us in Ohio remain peaceful. Do not let a sense of injustice produce more injustice.”

‘NOT THE WAY FORWARD’

Ohio Republican Party Chairwoman Jane Timken tweeted: “As Americans, we have the constitutional right to redress our grievances, but not with violence. What’s happening in the Capitol is wrong and not the way forward.”

Ohio House Minority Leader Emilia Strong Sykes, D-Akron, responded to Timken, tweeting: “No. No. No. No. No. No. You own this, Jane. You and the entire party you lead. Save these shallow words for someone else. This is on you and (the) rest of the Republicans who let this crap happen for years. You wanted the glory. Now you take the blame.”

She had similar words for Portman.

Rhine McLin, the acting Ohio Democratic Party chairwoman, said: “For too long, this president’s words have fanned the flames of hatred, chaos and racism, and for four years, Ohio Republicans have cheered him on or shrugged their shoulders and pretended to be ‘late for lunch'”

Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers and an Ohio native, said: “Armed violent protesters who support the baseless claim by outgoing President Trump that he somehow won an election that he overwhelmingly lost have stormed the U.S. Capitol.”

He called on Vice President Mike Pence and Trump’s cabinet to “seriously consider” invoking the 25th Amendment, which allows for the removal of the president. Biden will be inaugurated Jan. 20.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com