Republican businessman Ken Langone on Wednesday blasted last week’s Capitol Hill riot, indicting on CNBC he felt “betrayed” by President Donald Trump‘s actions that lead up to the deadly events.
“I think the biggest mistake anybody is going to make is try and rationalize what happened last week, what the president did and what that crowd did,” Langone said on “Squawk Box.” “There should be no mitigation at all. It was horrible. It was wrong. I’m shocked.”
Trump’s supporters overtook the U.S. Capitol exactly one week ago in an effort to stop Congress from finalizing President-elect Joe Biden‘s win in the Electoral College. Trump’s incendiary rhetoric and repeated lies about widespread fraud in the November elected helped rile up his supporters and, at a speech in Washington, the president encouraged supporters who gathered in the city to march to the Capitol.
“I feel betrayed,” said Langone, who has been highly supportive of Trumps’ economic policies over the years while also at times criticizing the president, such as over his response to the deadly white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017.
“Last Wednesday was a disgrace,” added Langone, the billionaire co-founder of Home Depot who has donated over the years to Republicans. “It should never have happened in this country. If it doesn’t break every American’s heart, something is wrong. It breaks my heart, for sure. I didn’t sign up for that.”
Langone, who serves chairman of the board of the NYU Langone Medical Center, urged Americans to rally behind Biden and ditch partisanship.
“I’m going to do everything I can from Day 1 to make sure I do my part to make Joe Biden the most successful president in the history of this country,” Langone said. “There’s a selfish reason for that, we’ve got very serious major issues in American to deal with,” such as the coronavirus pandemic and public education.
