WASHINGTON: As the threat of a second impeachment loomed, President Donald Trump acknowledged on Thursday (Jan 7) that Joe Biden will be the next US president, a day after his supporters stormed the US Capitol as Congress was certifying Biden's victory.
Trump, who as recently as Thursday morning had continued to claim falsely that the election had been stolen from him, said his focus would now turn to ensuring a smooth transition to a Biden administration in a video released on Thursday evening.
Biden, a Democrat, is set to be sworn in on Jan 20.
The president condemned Wednesday's violence, saying rioters had defiled the seat of American democracy.
"Serving as your president has been the honour of my lifetime," Trump said. "And to all of my wonderful supporters, I know you are disappointed, but I also want you to know that our incredible journey is only just beginning."
The statement was a stark reversal for Trump, who has spent months insisting he prevailed in the Nov 3 election due to widespread fraud, despite no evidence.
"Now Congress has certified the results. A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation," he said.
His exhortation on Wednesday to thousands of supporters that they should march to the Capitol to protest the election results whipped up a mob that overran police officers and invaded the Capitol building, forcing members of Congress into hiding for their own safety.
The top Democrats in Congress, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, called on Vice President Mike Pence and Trump's Cabinet to use the US Constitution to remove Trump for "his incitement of insurrection".
The 25th Amendment allows a majority of the Cabinet to remove a president from power if he is unable to discharge the duties of the office.
But a Pence adviser said the vice president, who would have to lead any such effort, was opposed to using the amendment to oust Trump from the White House.
If Pence fails to act, Pelosi signaled she would likely reconvene the House to initiate impeachment proceedings against Trump for his role in Wednesday's violence, which claimed five lives, including that of a Capitol Police officer, whose death was confirmed on Twitter by US Representative Dean Phillips.
A handful of Republicans also called for Trump's removal. The Wall Street Journal editorial page, seen as a leading voice of the Republican establishment, called on Trump to resign on Thursday evening.
Several members of Trump's administration, including Elaine Chao, the transportation secretary and the wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, resigned as a symbolic gesture against the violence.
WASHINGTON: The chief of the US Capitol Police will resign, according to media reports on Thursday (Jan 7), a day after the federal force charged with protecting Congress was unable to keep supporters of Republican President Donald Trump from storming the building.
House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi has called on Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund to step down after officers in the 2,000-member force fell back as crowds advanced on Wednesday.
That enabled Trump supporters angry about his election defeat to invade the halls of Congress to disrupt certification of Democratic President-elect Joe Biden's victory. Other officers fought to keep lawmakers and staff safe.
The Capitol Police did not immediately respond to inquiries about the reports of Sund's resignation.
CNN reported on Thursday that a Capitol Police officer had died following the protest, the fifth person to die in the incident.
Washington's federal prosecutor said he would charge any Capitol Police officers found to be complicit in allowing protesters into the building, and lawmakers vowed to open an investigation into the department.
"Many of our Capitol Police just acted so bravely and with such concern for the staff, the members, for the Capitol ... and they deserve our gratitude. But there was a failure at the top of the Capitol Police," said Pelosi, a Democrat, in calling for Sund's resignation.
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)
She said that Paul Irving, the House sergeant at arms, would resign. Top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer said he would fire Michael Stenger, the Senate sergeant at arms, as soon as runoff elections in Georgia for two seats are certified and Democrats control the Senate.
Trump supporters ransacked legislators' offices, stole computers and documents, and left threatening messages as they roamed the building for hours in a rampage that left four people dead: one shot by police and three who died of medical emergencies.
The crowd racing through the building, with Trump flags and his signature red hats, stood in sharp contrast to the response to anti-racism protests this summer.
At that time, the White House was surrounded by multiple blocks of buffer, and law enforcement officers used tear gas, projectiles and at one point the downward blast of a helicopter rotor to push back protesters.
People shelter in the House gallery as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the US Capitol on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
In comparison, the streets around the Capitol were open on Wednesday morning, and scatterings of Capitol Police stood at low metal barriers resembling bicycle racks.
District of Columbia Councilman Charles Allen, who represents the area around Capitol Hill, called that contrast particularly jarring.
"They were overrun and, in many cases, appear to have completely opened the gates, snapped selfies," Allen said. "By the time they called DC Metropolitan Police Department, it was too late."
A House Democratic aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the investigation would focus on what intelligence was available in the run-up to the riot, how decisions were made and why the perimeter of the Capitol was not more secure.
The aide said some protesters were found carrying zip ties. Those heavy-duty plastic ties are often used to handcuff people, and could indicate an intent to kidnap members of Congress.
"Taxpayers deserve to know why ... it took only an hour for a handful of ragamuffin protesters to enter the building and pose a threat to the continuity of democracy," Senator Chris Murphy, the top Democrat on the Senate subcommittee overseeing the Capitol Police, told reporters.
Police spray supporters of US President Donald Trump as they protest inside the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Photo: AFP/Roberto Schmidt)
'WHY ARE THEY NOT COMING?'
Pelosi joined dozens of House members in the safe room where they sheltered after protesters battered the doors of their chamber on Wednesday, and told them she had received a steady stream of calls asking why reinforcements had not been dispatched more quickly.
"Why are they not coming now? Almost a constant flow of calls," Pelosi said. "That is something to review."
Pelosi and other lawmakers also praised the Capitol Police for protecting their staff and journalists. Many officers were injured.
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell called the breach a "shocking failure".
A Trump supporter bashes an entrance of the Capitol Building in an attempt to gain access on Jan 6, 2021, in Washington, DC. (Photo: AFP/Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
Capitol Police did not respond to inquiries about why they had not cordoned off the area or brought in more support officers ahead of the protests, which Trump himself urged to be "wild".
The acting US attorney for Washington, Michael Sherwin, told a news briefing that any Capitol Police officer found complicit in the breach of the building would be charged.
Sherwin declined to answer a question about why Capitol Police did not detain people as soon as they attempted to get into the building. "That's a concern and that's made our job difficult," he said.
The FBI sought the public's help in identifying the rioters. Some of the 68 people arrested after Wednesday's incidents were due in court on Thursday.
On Thursday, crews installed 2m fencing around the Capitol. Police said they had been instructed not to talk to reporters.
People shelter in the House gallery as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the US Capitol on Jan 6, 2021, in Washington. (Photo: AP/Andrew Harnik)
Prior to reports of his resignation, Sund in a statement said the officer who fatally shot Ashli Babbitt, who was among a group of Trump supporters trying to force their way into the House chamber, was on administrative leave while the shooting is investigated.
Sund said his officers "responded valiantly" when demonstrators attacked them with "metal pipes, discharged chemical irritants and took up other weapons". They also faced two pipe bombs.
A senior administration official said the Capitol Police had rejected Defense Department offers of additional training from before Wednesday.
"There was concern about having too much of a militarised presence, but this was about training and how to set up the perimeters and a layered defence, and they turned that down too," said the official, who requested anonymity.
WASHINGTON: The bloody chaos inside the US Capitol on Wednesday (Jan 7) came after the police force that protects the legislative complex was overrun by a mob of Trump supporters in what law enforcement officials called a catastrophic failure to prepare.
The siege of the Capitol, home to both the US Senate and the House of Representatives, represents one of the gravest security lapses in recent US history, current and former law enforcement officials said, turning one of the most recognisable symbols of American power into a locus of political violence.
While events such as a presidential inauguration involve detailed security plans by numerous security agencies, far less planning went into protecting the joint session of Congress that convened on Wednesday to ratify the results of the 2020 presidential election, the officials said.
That lapse came despite glaring warning signs of potential violence by hardline supporters of President Donald Trump, who are inflamed by his baseless claims of a stolen election and hope to block the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
And security initially was handled almost entirely alone by the US Capitol Police, a 2,000-member force under the control of Congress and dedicated to protecting the 126-acre Capitol Grounds.
For reasons that remained unclear as of early Thursday, other arms of the US federal government’s vast security apparatus did not arrive in force for hours as rioters besieged the seat of Congress.
The Capitol is a short walk from where Trump in a speech railed against the election just before the riot began, calling the vote an “egregious assault on our democracy” and urging his supporters to “walk down to the Capitol” in a “Save America March.”
The counting of the electoral votes of the presidential election by Congress, normally a formality, was preceded by weeks of threats in social media that planned pro-Trump protests could descend into violence.
Despite those rumblings of danger, the Capitol Police force did not request advance help to secure the building from other federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security, according to one senior official. And National Guard reinforcements, summoned by the city’s mayor, were not mobilised until more than an hour after protesters had first breached the barricades.
Members of the District of Columbia National Guard stand outside the United States Capitol on Wednesday, Jan 6, 2021. (Photo: AP/Julio Cortez)
In stark contrast, those agencies were aggressively deployed by the Trump administration during last summer’s police brutality protests in Washington and elsewhere in the United States.
Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund on Thursday said in a statement that agency is conducting a "thorough review of this incident, security planning and policies and procedures." The agency, he said, had a "robust plan" to address "anticipated First Amendment activities."
"But make no mistake - these mass riots were not First Amendment activities; there were criminal riotous behavior," Sund said. "The actions of the USCP officers were heroic given the situation they faced."
Officers were attacked with lead pipes, chemical irritants and other weapons, the chief said. In a separate video news conference with reporters, Democratic House Representative Tim Ryan said up to 60 police officers were injured and 15 remained in the hospital. One is in critical condition. Many had head injuries after being bludgeoned by rioters, Ryan said.
On Thursday afternoon, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California, called for Police Chief Sund's resignation. She said she had already received a notice from House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving - who is responsible for security in the chamber - that he would resign.
"There was a failure of leadership at the top of the Capitol Police," she said.
She added that other federal agencies also deserved a share of the blame for the failed planning and response to the Capitol siege. "It goes beyond the Capital Police," she said. "It goes to many other elements of the executive branch."
BREAKING THROUGH WINDOWS AND DOORS
Capital Police officers are trained to keep protesters off the Capitol’s marble outdoor steps, to protect the complex like a citadel.
But there are so many windows and doors in the 19th-century complex that it is difficult to defend them all, said Terrance Gainer, who served as Capitol Police chief and later as the US Senate’s Sergeant at Arms, its chief law enforcement officer.
“Once they lost the steps, they lost the doors and windows,” Gainer said.
As hordes of rioters streamed into the heart of American government, they could be seen on camera roaming freely through the historic halls - swinging from a balcony, rifling through the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and even sitting in the chair reserved for the Senate’s presiding officer.
One rioter was captured by a Reuters photographer casually shouldering a large Confederate battle flag as he strode inside the Capitol - a searingly evocative inversion of the failed 1861-1865 insurrection against the American republic by Southern states in an effort to perpetuate slavery.
A supporter of President Donald Trump carries a Confederate battle flag on the second floor of the US Capitol near the entrance to the Senate after breaching security defences, in Washington on Jan 6, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Mike Theiler)
“I truly had to suspend my disbelief because I didn’t think you could breach the Capitol,” said Gainer, the former Capitol Police chief. “There will need to be a full accounting. We’re going to have to have a deep dive into what went wrong.”
Lawmakers inside the building blamed a lack of preparation for the historic security breach. “I think police did a good job under the circumstances, but there clearly wasn’t enough planning,” said Representative Vicente Gonzalez, a Texas Democrat.
The long-planned protest, Gonzalez said, called for an “overwhelming display of force” by police.
A senior official with the US Department of Homeland Security said Capitol Police should have planned better for an assault on the building.
"They should have anticipated this," said the official, who requested anonymity to discuss the matter. "And while it was happening, they should have called in more support."
‘IT LOOKED LIKE THE KEYSTONE COPS’
Some Democratic members of Congress, worried about the prospects of violence, tried for more than a week to press agencies for information about what they knew about threats or countermeasures, according to one congressional source. But there was no sign anyone was gathering serious intelligence about possible disturbances or planning to counter them, this source said.
Typically, law enforcement agencies in the American capital spend weeks or months planning for large protests, one former Justice Department official said.
Officials from dozens of agencies, including local police, Capitol Police, the Secret Service and the federal Parks Police, ordinarily gather at the Washington field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the premier national law-enforcement agency, to coordinate their response. But it’s not clear how much of that planning happened for Wednesday’s event.
Members of the US Secret Service Counter Assault Team walk through the Rotunda as they and other federal police forces responded as violent protesters loyal to President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol today, at the Capitol in Washington on Jan 6, 2021. (Photo: AP/J Scott Applewhite)
A senior federal law enforcement official familiar with the planning to protect other federal sites on Wednesday, including the grounds where Trump spoke, said that he was shocked that the Capitol Police were not better prepared.
“It looked like the Keystone Cops out there,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It should have never happened. We all knew in advance that these people were coming, and the first order of policing is presence.”
“The Capitol Police force is essentially a guard force, so it’s hard to understand why they weren’t better prepared.”
The challenges of securing the Capitol have been discussed in hearings and in reports for years. In 2013, Gainer said he proposed a fence, to be called the Capitol Gateway, to stop such a mass assault. It was never built.
“The idea was roundly defeated,” he said, because members of Congress wanted to protect the public’s access, and did not want the complex to look like a fortress.
TRUMP LAUNCHED MARCH TO THE CAPITOL
Trump on Twitter promised a “wild” event aimed at reversing his loss in last November’s election - and appeared to encourage his supporters to act. “Our country has had enough, and we will not take it anymore,” Trump said at Wednesday’s rally. “You have to show strength, and you have to be strong."
The White House did not respond to requests for comment on Trump’s role in inspiring the violent protests or on the collapse of security at the Capitol.
As Trump returned to the White House, the crowd headed to the Capitol building.
After a perimeter was quickly breached, Capitol Police officers seemed to be alone in battling the extremists on the building’s steps, according to witness accounts and video from the scene.
Trump supporters try to break through a police barrier on Jan 6, 2021, at the Capitol in Washington. (Photo: AP/John Minchillo)
They were unable to secure all the doors and windows in the sprawling complex. Protesters surged inside the building, which contains the chambers of both houses of Congress. Video footage showed Capitol Police overwhelmed by vastly superior numbers of intruders as the mob grew into the thousands.
Two US officials said that Washington city officials had hoped to avoid a militarised response in the days before the protest. The fear: They were concerned about a repeat of the scenes of the harsh federal response to anti-racism protests that took place across the street from the White House in June. They said it was unclear why it took as long as it did for the city police force to arrive at the Capitol.
Whatever the case, they added, the delay was too long. A US defence official said Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser requested National Guard troops at around 2 p.m. That was about 45 minutes after the rioters had breached the first barricade. Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller activated the full DC National Guard at about 2.30, the official said.
By then, the Capitol was under lockdown. In the rotunda, the iconic circular room under the Capitol dome, tear gas masks were being distributed. Police evacuated Vice President Mike Pence - who was there to preside over the formal counting of the Electoral College votes for the election he and Trump lost - and members of the House of Representatives and Senate. The police used pepper spray and tear gas on the protesters. They tried to barricade doors with furniture but quickly lost the battle.
A US Capitol police officer shoots pepper spray at a protester attempting to enter the Capitol building during a joint session of Congress to certify the 2020 election results on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jan 6, 2021. (Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Pool via REUTERS)
An officer shot Babbit as she and other protesters were "forcing their way toward the House Chamber where members of Congress were sheltering in place," Capital Police Chief Sund said in his statement.
The officer, who was not named, has been placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated, which is standard policy in use-of-force incidents, the chief said.
CALLS TO ‘RISE UP’ FOR TRUMP
While the mob invasion of the Capitol was unprecedented, there were ample warning signs in the days leading up to the protests. Many Trump supporters who travelled to the capital shared plans and organised on social media websites such as Parler, a Twitter-like service that has attracted right-wing extremist groups.
Some posters discussed ways to illegally sneak guns into Washington. In a post on the social media app Parler, the leader of the far-right extremist group the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, promised the group’s attendance at Wednesday’s rally. Tarrio was arrested on Monday in Washington for destruction of property during a protest last month and possession of a firearm magazine. He pleaded not guilty but was ordered to leave the city on Tuesday.
Joe Biggs, a Proud Boys organiser, said more than 65 members of his group attended the protests but that he did not know whether any of them entered the Capitol building. He said he advised other Proud Boys to stay inside and avoid confrontations with police.
People march with those who claim they are members of the Proud Boys as they attend a rally in Washington on Jan 6, 2021, in support of President Donald Trump. (Photo: AP/Carolyn Kaster)
On Twitter, starting on Jan 1, there were 1,480 posts from accounts related to the QAnon conspiracy theory movement that referenced Trump’s rally on Jan 6 and contained references to violence, said a former intelligence official who monitors extremists on social media. These included calls for “Patriots to Rise Up.”
In one popular post on the TikTok video app, a man said that bringing guns to Washington is the “entire reason we’re going.”
Neil Trugman, a former Capitol Police intelligence officer, called Wednesday’s invasion of the complex unfathomable. He said the force generally prepares for much smaller groups under rules designed to allow for maximum expression of free speech rights.
“We’re all witnessing something we never imagined," said Trugman, who recently retired as chief of police for Amtrak, the US passenger rail company. “I’m not sure any chief of police could have handled this any differently.”
He blamed Trump for inciting the riot: “This is no longer just a protest. They crossed the line. This is terrorism.”
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump faced growing calls for his removal and a staff exodus on Thursday (Jan 7), one day after a pro-Trump mob stormed the US Capitol in a harrowing assault on American democracy.
While Trump has just 13 days left in his term, there were numerous demands for his ouster including by the Senate's top Democrat and a Republican congressman. Congress early on Thursday formally certified Democratic President-elect Joe Biden's election victory despite objections from some Republican lawmakers.
Members of Trump's Cabinet and allies of the Republican president have discussed invoking a provision of the US Constitution to remove him from office, a source familiar with the situation said.
Meanwhile, a growing number of White House aides said they would quit, including envoy Mick Mulvaney, Trump's former chief of staff, and top Russia adviser Ryan Tully. More departures were expected soon.
Facebook, a key social media platform for Trump, also said it would ban Trump posts until Biden's Jan 20 inauguration.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called on Vice President Mike Pence to remove Trump under the Constitution's 25th Amendment, which allows Cabinet members to oust a president who has been incapacitated. At least one Republican and 19 Democrats in the House of Representatives also called for that step.
"What happened at the US Capitol yesterday was an insurrection against the United States, incited by the president," Schumer said in a statement. "This president should not hold office one day longer."
"If the vice president and the Cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress should reconvene to impeach the president," he added.
Supporters of U.S. President Donald Trump occupy the US Capitol Building in Washington, on Jan 6, 2021. (Photo: Jack Gruber/USA TODAY via REUTERS)
The Democratic-led House impeached Trump in December 2019 on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress after the president pressured Ukraine to investigate Biden, but the Republican-led Senate in February 2020 voted to keep him in office.
Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger called for the 25th Amendment to be invoked to remove Trump.
"All indications are that the president has become unmoored, not just from his duty or even his oath, but from reality itself," Kinzinger said in a video he posted on Twitter.
A source familiar with the situation said the 25th Amendment effort was unlikely to go anywhere. Most Republicans in Congress have shown little interest in pressuring the Cabinet to act in that fashion.
Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar said Trump's Cabinet should be ready to act, as Trump could stir up more trouble in his remaining time in office.
"They better be ready to do that if it continues because you cannot have a president basically leading an insurrection against our own country's government," Klobuchar said on CBS.
Trump pledged in an early-morning statement an "orderly transition" ahead of Biden's inauguration, in part to prevent more staffers from leaving. Yet Trump has continued to repeat the falsehood that the election was stolen from him.
Trump also has not condemned the extraordinary violence that unfolded after he encouraged supporters on Wednesday to march to the Capitol, despite pleas from senior members of his administration.
Police officers stand guard as supporters of US President Donald Trump gather in front of the U.S. Capitol Building in Washington on Jan 6, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis)
"I implore the President and all elected officials to strongly condemn the violence that took place yesterday," Acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf said.
Wolf's deputy, Ken Cuccinelli, said on Fox News that new fencing was being installed around the Capitol ahead of Biden's inauguration.
The assault on the Capitol was the culmination of months of divisive and escalating rhetoric by Trump and his allies around the Nov 3 election, with the president repeatedly making false claims that the vote was rigged and urging his supporters to help him overturn his loss.
Rioters broke windows and besieged the House chamber while lawmakers were inside, banging on its doors. Security officers piled furniture against the chamber's door and drew their pistols before helping lawmakers and others escape.
FBI ASKS FOR HELP
The FBI asked the public for tips on identifying people involved in the mayhem in which four people died.
The violence came on the day that Biden's fellow Democrats secured narrow control of the Senate with victories registered in two Georgia runoff elections held on Tuesday.
In certifying Biden's election triumph, longtime Trump allies such as Pence and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell rejected Trump's pleas for intervention. The Senate and the House rejected two objections by Republican lawmakers to the tally and certified the final Electoral College count, with Biden receiving 306 votes and Trump 232 votes.
Vice President Mike Pence enters the House chamber, after the Congress reconvened to certify the Electoral College votes of the 2020 presidential election, in Washington, on Jan 7, 2021. (Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst)
McConnell, who had long remained silent while Trump sought to overturn the election results, chastised other Republicans who stalled certification. He called the invasion a "failed insurrection".
"They tried to disrupt our democracy," McConnell said on the Senate floor. "They failed."
The shock of the assault seemed to soften the resolve of some Republicans who had supported Trump's efforts to reverse his election loss. Several Republican senators who had said they would mount objections to the electoral vote count changed their minds when they returned to the chamber.
Two objections - to the vote tallies in Arizona and Pennsylvania - were voted down resoundingly in both the House and the Senate.
"All I can say is count me out. Enough is enough," Senator Lindsey Graham, one of Trump's staunchest allies in Congress, said on the Senate floor.
Election officials of both parties and independent observers have said there was no significant fraud in the election. Biden received 7 million more votes than Trump in the national popular vote.
SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook said it would block US President Donald Trump's accounts for at least the next two weeks until the presidential transition is completed and perhaps indefinitely, the most significant sanction of the president by any major social media company.
The decision by Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg comes after Facebook announced on Wednesday it would lock for 24 hours Trump's page, which has 35 million followers.
Tech giants are scrambling to crack down on his baseless claims about the US presidential election after hundreds of Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol.
"We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great," Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post on Thursday. He said the block would also apply to Facebook-owned Instagram.
Twitter and Snap also temporarily locked Trump's accounts on Wednesday. Twitter said its freeze of @realDonaldTrump, which has more than 88 million followers, would last until 12 hours after Trump removes three tweets.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
E-commerce platform Shopify also said on Thursday it was shutting down service for stores affiliated with Trump for violations of its "acceptable use" policy, prompting e-commerce sites for both the campaign and the Trump Organization to go offline.
Social media companies have been under pressure to police misinformation about the US election on their platforms, including from the president.
Trump and his allies for months have amplified baseless claims of election fraud and the president told protesters to go to Capitol Hill, with both Republicans and Democrats saying he was responsible for the resulting violence.
In a video posted to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube on Wednesday, which was later deleted by the platforms, Trump repeated election fraud claims as he told protesters to go home.
"His decision to use his platform to condone rather than condemn the actions of his supporters at the Capitol building has rightly disturbed people in the US and around the world," said Zuckerberg in his Thursday post.
Civil rights groups including Color of Change have called for social media companies to permanently ban Trump from the platforms, where he has repeatedly violated policies.
The Anti-Defamation League praised Facebook's move, calling it "an obvious first step," while the NAACP in a statement said the move was a "long overdue" gesture that "rings hollow."
Facebook has previously been blasted by lawmakers and employees for not acting on inflammatory posts from Trump, including those that have been labelled by Twitter.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner, incoming chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said he was glad social media was cracking down on Trump's false claims but the actions did not go far enough.
"These platforms have served as core organising infrastructure for violent, far right groups and militia movements for several years now - helping them to recruit, organise, coordinate and in many cases (particularly with respect to YouTube) generate profits from their violent, extremist content,” he said in a statement.
YouTube said Thursday any channel that posts videos with false claims about the election results will be temporarily restricted from uploading or live streaming. YouTube did not respond to a question about whether it would ban Trump's account in the same manner as Facebook.
