While the Wyoming Republican Party has condemned the violence that saw hundreds of people storm the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday, it is also urging people to withhold judgment about who may have been responsible for the incident.
The party, in a statement, suggested the media rushed to identify those who infiltrated the Capitol as supporters of President Donald Trump.
“While the media rushes to label the protesters Trump supporters while not knowing who was actually responsible for the breach, we sit back and wait for the facts,” the statement said.
One person was killed in the incident and a Capitol police officer died from injuries he sustained while trying to repulse the crowds of people who have been described as Trump supporters.
The invasion of the Capitol came after a rally where Trump spoke and repeated his allegations of voter fraud in November’s presidential election. At the time the Capitol was stormed, members of Congress were meeting to discuss certification of the Electoral College votes that confirmed Democrat Joe Biden as the winner of the election.
The Republican Party’s statement said it is still too early to determine who was responsible for the incident.
“We do not condone violence and would hope people would make good decisions,” the statement said. “Since the facts are still unknown, any statement regarding the events is premature, as we all know this is the media side of the story. We will not jump to conclusions and point fingers until we have the facts.”
The statement also referenced the rioting associated with rallies held around the country in 2020 to protest the deaths of people at the hands of police.
“The protests the last several months have resulted in burned down buildings, destroyed businesses and people killed, yet there was no outrage from the corrupt media,” it said. “It is our hope that the media will report the truth and that the justice system will prosecute those responsible, first for the riots in the spring of 2020 and then, when the facts come out regarding the events of this day, those responsible for (Wednesday’s) chaos.”
Party Chairman Frank Eathorne, who attended the rally, said Thursday he saw no sign of violence during the event and first learned of the storming of the Capitol from news reports.
