White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on Thursday called for America to unite and condemned the violent riots at the U.S. Capitol started by supporters of President Trump, who has not made a public appearance in more than 24 hours.
The White House alerted reporters around 5 p.m. Thursday that McEnany would make appearance in the briefing room at 5:15 p.m.
The press secretary read from prepared remarks and stated that they were on behalf of the entire White House, including the president.
“Let me be clear — the violence we saw yesterday at our nation’s capital was appalling, reprehensible, and antithetical to the American way,” McEnany said. “We condemn it — the president and this administration — in the strongest possible terms.”
“Those who are working in this building are working to ensure an orderly transition of power,” McEnany continued. “Now it is time for America to unite, to come together to reject the violence that we have seen. We are one American people under God.”
McEnany then walked out of the room without taking questions.
Her remarks came more than 24 hours after the Capitol was ravaged by chaos. A Pro-Trump group stormed the building to try and halt the counting of Electoral College votes affirming President-elect Joe Biden’s 2020 victory.
Supporters of the president stormed the grounds of the Capitol after he delivered a speech to protesters on the National Mall calling on them to fight the election results.
Trump has faced pressure from allies, including members of his Cabinet, to forcefully condemn the violence himself, but has yet to do so. The president released a video statement Wednesday afternoon during which he told the rioters to go home in peace but called them “very special” and repeated claims that the election was “stolen” from him.
Trump did not make a public appearance Thursday and has been locked out of his Twitter account due to what the social media account deemed inflammatory tweets posted a day earlier.
He released a statement through Dan Scavino, the White House deputy chief of staff for communications, early Thursday morning acknowledging the end of his presidency and stating that while he did not agree with the end result of the 2020 election, there would be a peaceful transfer of power.
McEnany has appeared regularly on Fox News to alleged claims of widespread voter fraud similar to those that the president and his allies have claimed tainted the November election.
Shortly after the 2020 election, the Trump campaign mounted various legal battles in key swing states alleging voter fraud and irregularities, but the majority of the lawsuits were dismissed in court. Claims of election fraud have also been debunked by election officials who have stated that the 2020 election was one of the safest in U.S. history.
Earlier in the year, McEnany would not say when asked whether Trump would accept the results of the election regardless of the outcome.
As recently as Wednesday, she questioned the legitimacy of Sen.-elect Raphael Warnock’s (D) victory in a Georgia runoff election.