Watch: Joaquin Castro discusses pro-Trump rioters storming U.S. Capitol

U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro blamed President Donald Trump for the violence in the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday and reiterated his call for the resignation of U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. He made the comments Wednesday afternoon in a live virtual interview from his congressional office with The Texas Tribune’s Alana Rocha.

“This is, you know, the most prosperous, most successful democracy in the world. And this represents a complete breach of that and an insurrection by the people that Donald Trump inspired,” Castro said.

The representative from San Antonio doubled down on his call for Cruz’s resignation and linked the senator’s attempts to contest the election to a possible presidential campaign in Cruz’s future.

“He has conducted himself shamelessly and I think has done this because he believes it’s the only way, the only chance that he has to win, the Republican nomination for president,” Castro said.

Castro, who was in lockdown in his office with staffers, also said that there had been a double standard in the treatment of the mob in the Capitol, compared with other protests that he has seen.

“A lot of protesters, including in my hometown of San Antonio, they were shot with rubber bullets. People had tear gas used on them quickly,” Castro said. “In this situation, I just don’t know how protesters reached the U.S. Capitol grounds, got into the Senate chamber.” He expressed surprise that there wasn’t a “stronger security force that would have been dedicated to protecting this institution of government.”

“So I do, sadly, I do think there is a double standard,” he said.

The representative said that although there might be a delay in the process of certifying the Electoral College vote, he expected President-elect Joe Biden to still take over Jan. 20. He also added that it will be tough to go back to the Capitol “and make sure everything is safe.”

“Here you had hundreds of people, if not more, who actually got into the Capitol and the different office buildings,” Castro said. “We don’t know whether those people were still walking around with weapons now or whether somebody planted something that they left here, not to mention nobody, hardly any of them, I think, were wearing masks.”