The Senate overwhelmingly rejected the challenge to President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in Arizona, ensuring that the outcome will be maintained.
The objection to the results in Arizona – spearheaded by Congressman Paul Gosar and Senator Ted Cruz – was dismissed by 93-6 on Wednesday night. All votes in favor came from Republicans, but after violent protesters invaded the Capitol on Wednesday, several Republican senators who planned to support the objection changed course.
Republicans raised the objection based on false allegations made by President Donald Trump and others about voting issues in Arizona, which were repeatedly rejected in Arizona courts and by state election officials.
Republicans were among Congressional leaders, including Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell and James Imhoff, who took the podium in the Senate House and denounced the violence that occurred earlier in the day on Capitol Hill.
Several Republican senators have reversed the course and now say they will not object to Congress’ certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Senators Steve Daines of Montana, Mike Braun of Indiana and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia all said, in the light of the violence, that they would renounce planned objections to Biden’s victory.
Loeffler said that “violence, illegality and the siege of the corridors of Congress” were a “direct attack” on the “sanctity of the American democratic process”.
All three had already agreed to Trump’s false allegations of widespread electoral fraud to explain his defeat. Loeffler has only a few days in office. She lost her Senate race to Democrat Raphael Warnock on Wednesday.
Authorities declared the US Capitol complex “safe”.
At least one woman was shot and killed, although it is not clear who pulled the trigger during the chaotic scene.
A violent crowd loyal to President Donald Trump invaded the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday and forced lawmakers to hide in an impressive attempt to overthrow America’s presidential election, undermine the country’s democracy and prevent Democrat Joe Biden from replacing Trump at the White House.
The National Guard and the state and federal police were called to control, and the Washington mayor imposed a rare night curfew.
The country’s elected representatives crouched down to crouch under desks and placed gas marks, while the police futilely tried to barricade the building, one of the most shocking scenes ever to take place in a seat of American political power.
WATCH: complete coverage of chaos in the Capitol
The rioters were instigated by Trump, who spent weeks falsely attacking the integrity of the election and urged his supporters to go to Washington to protest Congress’ formal approval of Biden’s victory. Some Republican lawmakers were in the midst of raising objections to the results on their behalf when the process was abruptly stopped by the crowd.
Multiple sources told ABC News that there were discussions between some members of Trump’s cabinet and some of his allies over the 25th amendment, which can be used by cabinet members to remove President Trump from office.
It was unclear how extensive these talks have been, or whether Vice President Pence supports such action, ABC News reported.
In addition to a couple of tweets and that one-minute video, Trump was largely disconnected from occupying a leading seat in the country’s government.
MORE: Twitter blocks Trump’s account after removing tweets about DC protesters
Together, the Republican Party’s protests and electoral objections represented an almost unthinkable challenge to American democracy and exposed the depths of the divisions that occurred in the country during Trump’s four years in office. While efforts to prevent Biden from taking office on January 20 certainly failed, the support that Trump received for his efforts to overturn election results has seriously undermined the country’s democratic protections.
Congress reconvened hours later, promising to complete confirmation of the Electoral College’s vote for Biden’s election, even if it took all night.
Vice President Mike Pence, reopening the session, addressed the protesters directly: “You didn’t win.”
WATCH: Vice President Pence addresses the Congress while the Electoral College certification is resumed
The president gave his supporters a boost for action on Wednesday morning at a rally outside the White House, where he urged them to march to the Capitol. He spent most of the afternoon in his private dining room next to the Oval Office watching scenes of violence on television. At the request of his team, he reluctantly issued two tweets and a video telling his supporters it was time to “return home in peace” – but still said he supported his cause.
A grim president-elect Biden, two weeks away, said that American democracy is “under unprecedented attack”, a sentiment echoed by many in Congress, including some Republicans. Former President George W. Bush said he watched the events with “disbelief and dismay”.
WATCH: Joe Biden calls the Capitol mob to ‘retreat’, urges the restoration of decency
The vaulted Capitol building has for centuries been the scene of protests and occasional violence. But Wednesday’s events were particularly surprising because they unfolded at least initially with the president’s implicit blessing and because of the underlying objective of overturning the results of a free and fair presidential election.
Tensions were already high when lawmakers met early Wednesday afternoon to count the results of the constitutionally ordered Electoral College, in which Biden defeated Trump, 306-232. Despite calls from the Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, more than 150 Republican lawmakers planned to support objections to some of the results, although they have no evidence of election fraud or irregularities.
WATCH: Mitch McConnell interrupts Trump in a violent speech
Trump spent preparing for the procedure by publicly intimidating Pence, who had a largely ceremonial role in the proceedings, to assist in the effort. He tweeted on Wednesday: “Do it Mike, it’s time for extreme courage!”
But Pence, in a statement shortly before his presidency, challenged Trump, saying he could not claim “unilateral authority” to reject the electoral votes that make Biden president.
Shortly after the Republican Party’s first objections, protesters fought the police and stormed the building, shouting and waving Trump and American flags as they marched through the corridors. Lawmakers were told to bend down to protect themselves and put on gas masks after tear gas was used at the Capitol Roundabout. Some House legislators tweeted that they were taking shelter in their offices.
Representative Scott Peters, D-Calif., Told reporters he was in the Chamber of Deputies when protesters started attacking her. The security guards “told us all to go down, I could see they were defending themselves from some kind of robbery, it seemed. They had furniture leaning against the door, at the door, at the entrance to the Rotunda floor, they pulled their guns,” said Peters.
“And they just told us to get our pins out,” he added, referring to the lapel pins that members use so that Capitol Police can quickly identify them. Then lawmakers were evacuated.
Team members took the voting boxes from the Electoral College at the time of the evacuation. Otherwise, said Senator Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., The ballots would likely have been destroyed by the protesters.
RELATED: Electoral College Ballots Rescued While Protesters Invade US Capitol, Says Senator
Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris, present at the session, was among those sent to a safe location.
As soon as they left, the protesters walked down the corridors shouting, “Where are they?” One went up to the Senate podium and shouted, “Trump won that election.”
More than a dozen people were arrested.
SEE ALSO: US lawmakers react to DC protest that blocked Capitol Hill
Trump supporters posting on popular Internet forums with elements of the far right celebrated chaos. Messages posted in one went from profane frustration over the content of Trump’s speech to joy when supporters stormed the building. At least one major figure was broadcasting a live video from inside the Capitol during the siege.
The crowd’s invasion of Congress generated bipartisan outrage, notably from Democrats but also from Republicans, as lawmakers accused Trump of fomenting violence with his relentless falsehoods of electoral fraud. Several have suggested that Trump be prosecuted for a crime, which seems unlikely two weeks after his term ends.
“I think Donald Trump should probably be accused of treason for something like that,” California Representative Jimmy Gomez told reporters. “This is how a coup starts. And this is how democracy dies.”
Senator Ben Sasse, R-Neb., Who sometimes clashed with Trump, issued a written statement saying, “Lies have consequences. This violence was the inevitable and ugly result of the president’s addiction to constantly feeding the division.”
Despite Trump’s repeated allegations of electoral fraud, election officials and his own former attorney general said there were no problems on a scale that would change the outcome. All states have certified their results as fair and accurate, both by Republican and Democratic officials.
The Pentagon said that about 1,100 members of the District of Columbia National Guard are being mobilized to help support law enforcement on Capitol Hill. More than a dozen people were arrested.
When darkness began to fall, the police worked towards the protesters, using percussion grenades to try to clear the area around the Capitol. Large clouds of tear gas were visible. Police in full shock equipment descended the stairs, confronting the protesters.
Pence was closely watched as he climbed the dais to preside over the first joint session in the City Council.
Pence had a largely ceremonial role, opening the sealed envelopes of the states after they were loaded into the mahogany boxes used for the occasion and reading the results out loud. But he was under increasing pressure from Trump to overturn voter will and bend the results in favor of the president, despite having no legal power to affect the outcome.
“Do it Mike, this is an hour of extreme courage!” Trump tweeted on Wednesday.
MORE: Rioter enters Nancy Pelosi’s office, takes pictures with her feet on her desk
But Pence, in a statement shortly before his presidency, challenged Trump, saying he could not claim “unilateral authority” to reject the electoral votes that make Biden president.
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