Business leaders and trade groups on Wednesday called for an end to the violence in Washington, DC and a peaceful transfer of power after supporters of President Trump stormed the Capitol where lawmakers met to confirm the election of President Joe Biden’s Electoral College.
The reactions took place in a week of statements and meetings with corporate executives who called for a smooth transfer of power in public, while Mr. Trump and others have contested his election defeat.
General managers, including the leaders of Alphabet Inc. Google and Bank of America Corp., condemned the violence.
“The uprising that followed the remarks of today’s president is appalling and an insult to the democratic values we as Americans highly value,” said Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone Group. Mr. Schwarzman, one of Trump’s most loyal allies on Wall Street and a major Republican fundraiser who acknowledged in November that Trump had lost the election, added: “There must be a peaceful transition of power.”
James Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co., the country’s largest bank, said the violence did not represent the US. “Our elected leaders have a responsibility to put an end to the violence, to accept the results and, we support the peaceful transition of power, as our democracy has existed for hundreds of years,” Dimon said in a statement.