The two members of Congress who represent Shelby County as well as local officials condemn rioting at US Capitol.
The two members of Congress who represent Shelby County said they were safe following the U.S. Capitol being breached by rioters supporting President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the presidential election Wednesday afternoon.
U.S. Reps. Steve Cohen, D-tenn., and David Kustoff, R-tenn., both tweeted that they were safe and condemned the violent mob.
Cohen planned to vote for certification of the presidential election results, a process that was disrupted when the rioters stormed the Capitol. Kustoff, citing unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud, planned to vote against certification.
In a later tweet, Cohen said, “This is now a [third] world country led by a tinpot dictator.”
Cohen, in an interview Wednesday morning, said the planned objections from some members of the Republican party and the false claims from President Trump were cracking the foundations of U.S. democracy.
“What he’s been putting out and continues to put out [and] will put out today is damaging to democracy, damaging to our country, and antithetical to the oath that he took to protect us from all enemies domestic. And the fact is, what he’s doing is an attack on our democracy, our government. And that’s a domestic enemy,” Cohen said.
Cohen later retweeted his own December predictions of violence in the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Local elected officials react to riot
State Sen. Raumesh Akbari condemned the rioters and blamed Tennessee’s two senators — Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn — in part, for the violence.
State Rep. Antonio Parkinson, a veteran, also denounced the violence on Twitter.
Shelby County Schools Superintendent Joris Ray, on Twitter, spoke of the need to model civility in the face of violent threats from rioters.