Business Groups Condemn Violence on Capitol Hill: ‘This Is Sedition’

Business groups and leaders of large corporations condemned the violence on Capitol Hill that disrupted efforts to certify the election of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Wednesday.

Hours after supporters of President Trump forced lawmakers from the floor of the Senate and House of Representatives, the Business Roundtable, a group of chief executives from some of the nation’s largest companies, called on the president and other officials to “put an end to the chaos and facilitate the peaceful transition of power.”

“The chaos unfolding in the nation’s capital is the result of unlawful efforts to overturn the legitimate results of a democratic election,” the organization posted on Twitter.

The National Association of Manufacturers, one of the country’s largest lobbying groups, suggested that Vice President Mike Pence should consider invoking a provision of the 25th Amendment that allows members of the president’s cabinet to temporarily remove him from power.

“Anyone indulging conspiracy theories to raise campaign dollars is complicit,” the association said. “Vice President Pence, who was evacuated from the Capitol, should seriously consider working with the cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment to preserve democracy.”

The group said Mr. Trump had incited the violence and called the actions of protesters “sedition” that “should be treated as such.”

Other business leaders spoke out individually. “I strongly condemn the violence in our nation’s capital,” Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.

“Our elected leaders have a responsibility to call for an end to the violence, accept the results and, as our democracy has for hundreds of years, support the peaceful transition of power,” he said. “Now is the time to come together to strengthen our exceptional union.”

Mr. Dimon did not address Mr. Trump by name. It was the second time in recent months that he had weighed in on the nation’s political developments. On Nov. 7, when Mr. Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election, Mr. Dimon said that the election’s result had to be respected and that a peaceful transition of power needed to occur.

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