» Biz groups denounce D.C. violence,‘sedition’.
Business groups and leaders of largecorporationscondemnedthe violence on Capitol Hill that disrupted efforts to certify the election of President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday.
Hours after supporters of President Trump forced lawmakers fromthe floors of the Senate and House of Representatives, the Business Roundtable, a group of chief executives fromsome of the nation’s largest companies, called on the president and other officials to “put an end to the chaos and facilitate the peaceful transition of power.”
“The chaos unfolding in the nation’s capital is the result of unlawful efforts to overturn the legitimate results of a democratic election,” the organization posted on Twitter.
The National Association of Manufacturers, one of the country’s largest lobbying groups, suggested that Vice President Mike Pence should consider invoking a provision of the 25th Amendment that allows members of the president’s cabinet to temporarily remove him from power.
“Anyone indulging conspiracy theories to raise campaign dollars is complicit,” the association said. “Vice President Pence, who was evacuated fromthe Capitol, should seriously consider working with the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to preserve democracy.”
“This is sedition,” the group said of the actions of the mob, and said Trump had incited the violence.
The chief executive of the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, Thomas J. Donohue, called the events an attack on democracy, and Matthew Shay, the president and chief executive of the National Retail Federation, said, “Today’s riots are repugnant and fly in the face of the most basic tenets of our Constitution.”
The research group High Frequency Economics suspended regular publication of its research notes for the first time since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
“We at High Frequency Economics are disgusted by the role of the president of the United States in inciting this riot, and we are saddened that he cannot find the character to stand up in front of the mob he has created, quell the violence and send everyone home,” the group wrote to its clients. “Responsibility for this outrage rests securely on his shoulders.”
Many business leaders spoke out individually, though many avoided calling out the president and other politicians by name. “I strongly condemn the violence in ournation’scapital,” JamieDimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, said in a statement.
“Our elected leaders have a responsibility to call for an end to the violence, accept the results and, as our democracy has for hundreds of years, support the peaceful transition of power,” he said.
The chief executive of Wells Fargo, Charles Scharf, called on leaders to “come together to address the divisions in our society” and complete the “peaceful transition ofpower” to Biden. The chief executive of Bank of America, Brian Moynihan, called the events “appalling,” and Michael Corbat, the chief executive of Citigroup, said he was “disgusted.”