Elected representatives of the nation rushed to crouch under desks and put on gas masks, while police tried in vain to barricade the building, one of the most discordant scenes ever unfolding at headquarters. of American political power. A woman was shot dead inside the Capitol and the mayor of Washington instituted a curfew in the evening to try to contain the violence.
Trump incited riot police, who have spent weeks falsely attacking the integrity of the election and had urged his supporters to come down to Washington to protest formal congressional approval of Biden’s victory. Some Republican lawmakers were in the midst of objecting to the results on their behalf when the crowd abruptly stopped proceedings.
Together, Republican Party protests and election objections posed an almost unthinkable challenge to American democracy and exposed the depths of the divisions that have swept the country during Trump’s four-year term. While efforts to prevent Biden’s swearing-in on January 20 have surely failed, the support Trump has received for his efforts to overturn election results has severely strained the nation’s democratic railings.
SEE: full coverage of the chaos at the Capitol
Congress met again in the evening, lawmakers denied protests that damaged the Capitol and vowed to finish confirming the Electoral College vote for the Biden election, although it took all night.
Earlier Thursday morning, lawmakers completed their work, confirming that Biden won the presidential election.
Vice President Mike Pence, who chairs the joint session, announced the bill, 306-232.
Trump, who had firmly refused to grant the election, said in a statement immediately after the vote that “there will be an orderly transition” of power on the day of his inauguration.
“While I totally disagree with the outcome of the election and the facts confirm me, there will nevertheless be an orderly transition on January 20,” Trump said in a statement posted on twitter by an aide.
SEE ALSO: Twitter closes Trump’s account after removing tweets about DC protesters
Pence had reopened the Senate after the hard day and addressed the protesters directly: “You didn’t win.”
SEE: Vice President Pence addresses Congress when Electoral College certification resumes
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the “failed insurrection” underscored lawmakers’ duty to finish the count. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress will show the world “what America is made of” with the result.
SEE: Mitch McConnell breaks with Trump in a mocking speech
The president gave a boost to his followers in action Wednesday morning at a rally in front of the White House, where he urged them to march to the Capitol. He spent much of the afternoon in the Oval Office’s private dining room watching scenes of the violence on television. At the urging of his staff, he reluctantly issued a couple of tweets and a recorded video telling his followers it was time to “return home in peace,” though he said he defended his cause.
Hours later, Twitter blocked Trump’s account for the first time, demanding that he withdraw tweets excusing violence, and threatened a “permanent suspension.”
A somber president-elect, Biden, two weeks after he was inaugurated, said American democracy was “under unprecedented assault,” a sentiment echoed by many in Congress, including some Republicans. Former President George W. Bush said he viewed the events with “disbelief and dismay.”
SEE: Joe Biden calls on Capitol crowd to “retire” urges restoration of decency
The domed Capitol building has been the scene of occasional protests and violence for centuries. But Wednesday’s events were particularly striking both because they unfolded at least initially with the president’s implicit blessing and because of the underlying goal of overturning the results of a free and fair presidential election.
Tensions were already rising when lawmakers met Wednesday afternoon for the mandatory constitutional counting of Electoral College results, in which Biden defeated Trump, 306-232. Despite McConnell’s requests, more than 150 Republican lawmakers planned to support some of the findings, even though they had no evidence of election fraud or abuse.
Trump took the first steps in the processes of publicly making Pence, who played a primarily ceremonial role, to help the effort release the results. He tweeted, “Do it Mike, it’s a moment of extreme courage!”
But Pence, in a statement shortly before presiding, challenged Trump, saying he could not claim “unilateral authority” to reject the election votes that make Biden president.
SEE ALSO: Rioter walks into Nancy Pelosi’s office, takes pictures with her feet on the desk
Later, several Republicans announced they would drop their objections to the election, including Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., Who lost her re-election candidacy on Tuesday.
Earlier, protesters had fought in front of police and stormed the building, shouting and waving American and Trump flags as they marched down the aisles, many without masks during the COVID-19 crisis. Lawmakers were told to drown under the seats to cover them and put on gas masks after tear gas was used at the Capitol Roundabout. Some lawmakers in the house tweeted that they were in place at their offices.
Rep. Scott Peters, D-California, told reporters he was in the House of Representatives when riots began assaulting it. Security agents “made us all go down, it was seen that they were defending some kind of aggression.”
He said they had a piece of furniture against the door. “And they threw their guns at them,” Peters said. The windows of the door of the house were shattered.
The woman who died was part of a crowd that was breaking down the doors of a barricaded room where there were armed officers on the other side, police said. Capitol police shot her in the chest and took her to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. City police said three more people died due to medical emergencies during the lengthy protest on and around the Capitol precinct.
Staff members took ballot boxes from the Electoral College while the evacuation was taking place. Otherwise, Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore, said the ballots would probably have been destroyed by the protesters.
SEE ALSO: Electoral university ballots rescued as protesters storm U.S. Capitol, Senator says
The Mafia attack on Congress sparked outrage, mainly from Democrats but also Republicans, as lawmakers accused Trump of fomenting violence with his relentless falsehoods about election fraud.
“Tell me,” said Trump’s ally, Sen. Lindsey Graham, RS.C. “Enough is enough.”
Several suggested Trump be prosecuted for a crime or even dismissed by the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which seemed unlikely two weeks after his term expires.
“I think Donald Trump should probably be betrayed for something like that,” Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-California, told reporters. “That’s how a coup begins. And that’s how democracy dies.”
Images from January 6, 2021
Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb., Who sometimes clashed with Trump, issued a statement saying, “Lies have consequences. This violence was the inevitable and ugly result of the president’s addiction to constantly fueling the division.” .
SEE ALSO: US lawmakers react to DC protest closing Capitol
Despite Trump’s repeated allegations of voter fraud, election officials and his own attorney general have said there were no problems on a scale that would change the outcome. All states have certified their results as fair and accurate, for both Republican and Democratic officials.
Punctuating their decision, both the House and Senate deeply rejected an objection to Arizona’s election results, which had been raised by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., And another from Pennsylvania, presented by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., And Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa. Still, most House Republicans supported the objections. Other objections to the results from Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin disappeared.
The Pentagon said about 1,100 members of the District of Columbia National Guard mobilized to help support law enforcement at the Capitol. More than a dozen people were arrested.
As darkness fell, police officers made their way to the protesters, using percussion grenades to clear the area around the Capitol. Large clouds of tear gas were seen. Police in riot gear stormed a rally on Friday, removing hundreds of protesters by truck.
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Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Kevin Freking, Alan Fram, Matthew Daly, Ben Fox and Ashraf Khalil in Washington and Bill Barrow in Atlanta contributed to this report.
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