Without mincing words, US President-elect Joe Biden strongly condemned the violence at the US Capitol and termed all those who took part in the incident as white supremacists, a bunch of thugs and domestic terrorists calling for their immediate prosecution.
Thousands of Trump's supporters had stormed the Capitol building on Wednesday in an unprecedented assault and clashed with police, resulting in five deaths and interrupting a constitutional process by Congress to affirm the victory of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in the November 3 election.
"They should be prosecuted as they're a bunch of thugs, insurrectionist, white supremacists, and anti-Semites," Biden told reporters at a news conference in Wilmington, Delaware.
Biden also lashed out at the authorities and said security officers should be held accountable for their failures in preventing the violence that began on Wednesday. Biden sought an investigation into purported pictures of the Capitol Police personnel taking selfies with the protesters.
The president-elect also slammed Republican Senator Ted Cruz and several others. "I think they should be just flat beaten the next time they run. I think the American public has a real good clear look at who they are. They are part of the big lie. The big lie," he alleged.
The president-elect added that that he was pleased that some of the more prominent Republicans said people like Cruz were also responsible for people believing Trump’s claims about the US Presidential elections being rigged.