Updated 1/7/21, 12 p.m.
Governor David Ige condemned the actions of protestors who stormed the U.S. Capitol in D.C. Monday morning, protesting the congressional confirmation of the presidential election’s result.
“It is an assault on our democracy and everything that our country stands for,” Ige said.
“Every state in this country has certified the election results. And we had unprecedented voter turnout. The nation has spoken and Joe Biden will be the next president. It is time for us to move on.”
The Ige administration said it’s monitoring demonstrations from President Donald Trump supporters in Hawaii that have continued through the week.
“Typically, we’ll try to find out as much as we can about the protest, if we can identify the leaders, we do try to engage and have a dialogue and a discussion about what is acceptable and what is not,” Ige said.
“Certainly, we have not had any of the violence or chaos that we are seeing across the country.”
Hawaii’s GOP published several tweets echoing Trump’s allegations of election fraud-- which there has been no evidence of.
Ige urged the Hawaii GOP to, “really look at and examine the facts and evidence presented.”
“There has been absolutely no credible evidence presented in any court across this country that indicates any level of election fraud, that would have overturned the result.”
Hawaii’s congressional delegation, and their staff, have been safely accounted for.
In a statement, Senator Brian Schatz condemned the actions of protestors, but said it will not stop congress from affirming the results of the presidential election.
Congressman Kai Kahele also condemned the actions of extremist Trump supporters. As an officer in the Hawaii Air National Guard, Kahele says he's fought to protect the constitution and the right for peaceful protest and free speech.
"But that's not what we saw," Kahele said.
"This is not a peaceful demonstration of people that supported President Trump, or a passionate, spirited debate between Democrats and Republican supporters. These were people that came to the Capitol to provoke violence by President Trump."
Kahele says he would support a measure invoking the removal of President Trump under the 25th Amendment -- which allows that action because of an inability to carry out the duties of the office.
"I don't think we can wait another 14 days for President-elect Biden. I think President Trump should be impeached right now."
Congressman Ed Case was in his office in Washington in the Rayburn House building when the mob stormed the capitol.
He told HPR he was outraged by the violence, and by the response, and lack of responsibility of President Trump.
"It was about as direct an assault on our democracy as we've seen by our own citizens," Case said.
"It just fills me with so much sorry and anger and disgust -- over that disrespect. And it's compounded by the fact that it didn't happen by accident -- it wasn't spontaneous. It was incited. It was incited by the highest levels of our leadership -- the president being number one."
-- HPR's Ashley Mizuo and Casey Harlow
Where we stand
The state Department of Health reported 322 new cases and no new fatalities on Thursday.
According to the state's numbers, Oahu had 212, Maui 56, Hawaii County 18, Kauai 1, Molokai and Lanai had none.
The latest state counts bring the Oahu total to 18,711, Hawaii County, 1,964, Maui 1,175, Kauai 154, Lanai 106, and Molokai 23. The number of out-of-state cases totals 498 (34 new cases).
Since the pandemic began, the state has tallied 22,631 cases. The death toll stands at 299.
