CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday condemned the mob storming the U.S. Capitol, saying the massive group supporting President Trump’s efforts to overturn election results “probably are too stupid to know that they’re heading for jail.”
Protests broke out around the Capitol on Wednesday, with the House and Senate eventually forced to gavel out of their debates on the Electoral College results certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s win as footage showed protesters breaching security and entering the building.
Some video later showed rioters breaking windows and doors of the building, with loud bangs reported from journalists inside the facility.
While reporting on the ongoing incident, Blitzer hypothesized that the protesters will likely face legal punishment for their actions.
“They will be arrested if they broke windows, if they stormed the floor of the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives,” he argued. “They will be going to jail, many of them, for what they are doing right now.”
“They probably are too stupid to know that they’re heading for jail at some point down the road,” he added.
Blitzer’s comments come as the D.C. National Guard has been mobilized to help restore order, chief Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman said in a statement.
A congressional aide confirmed to The Hill that about “1,100 National Guard personnel” — the size of the entire D.C. Guard — “have been approved to help restore order.”
The aide added guardsmen are “already in coordination with D.C. law enforcement personnel.”
Law enforcement drew their firearms and deployed tear gas amid the demonstrations, with officers inside the House chamber appearing to point their weapons at demonstrators outside the door leading into the room. Glass from the door was broken, and law enforcement barricaded the entrance.
At one point, a protester made it up to the dais in the Senate chamber, shouting “Trump won the election,” according to a reporter on the scene.
Following calls from both GOP and Democratic lawmakers for Trump to call off the demonstrators, the president released a video address on Twitter urging his supporters to disperse, though he reiterated his false claims that his election defeat was “fraudulent,” which was the basis for Wednesday’s protest.
“You have to go home now. We have to have peace,” Trump said. “We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don’t want anybody hurt.”
Twitter quickly tagged the tweet containing the video, saying “This claim of election fraud is disputed, and this Tweet can’t be replied to, Retweeted, or liked due to risk of violence.”