NEW YORK Fitch made its decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating due to fiscal concerns and a deterioration in U.S governance as well as polarization which was also reflected by the Jan. 6 insurrection, Richard Francis, a senior director at Fitch Ratings, told Reuters on Wednesday.

In a move that took investors by surprise, Fitch downgraded the United States to AA+ from AAA on Tuesday, citing fiscal deterioration over the next three years and repeated down-to-the-wire debt ceiling negotiations that threaten the government’s ability to pay its bills.

(Reporting by Davide Barbuscia; Editing by Megan Davies, Ira Iosebashvili and Andrea Ricci)