Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany on Thursday placed the blame for the mob violence at the U.S. Capitol a day before squarely on President Donald Trump, although she and other leaders of the United State’s strongest allies in Europe expressed faith in the strength of American democracy.
"These pictures made me angry and sad,” Merkel said, speaking before an online gathering of her conservative party’s Bavarian partners, the Christian Social Union, minutes after the U.S. Congress confirmed President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
"I deeply regret that since November, President Trump has not accepted that he lost, and did not do so again yesterday,” the chancellor said. "He stoked uncertainties about the election outcome, and that created an atmosphere that made the events of last night possible.”