The country’s elected representatives crouched down to crouch under desks and wear gas masks, 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. A woman was shot and killed inside the Capitol, and the Washington mayor instituted an evening curfew in an attempt to contain the violence.
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.
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.
WATCH: complete coverage of chaos in the Capitol
Congress met again at night, lawmakers condemning the protests that disfigured the Capitol and promising to finish confirming the Electoral College’s vote for Biden’s election, even if it lasted all night.
Before dawn on Thursday, lawmakers completed their work, confirming that Biden won the presidential election.
Vice President Mike Pence, presiding over the joint session, announced the count, 306-232.
Trump, who vehemently 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 the inauguration.
“Although I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts confirm it, there will be an orderly transition on January 20,” Trump said in a statement posted on Twitter by an aide.
SEE ALSO: Twitter blocks Trump account after removing tweets about DC protesters
Pence reopened the Senate after the harrowing day and addressed the protesters directly: “You didn’t win”.
WATCH: Vice President Pence addresses the Congress while the Electoral College certification is resumed
Senate Republican majority leader Mitch McConnell said the “failed uprising” emphasized lawmakers’ duty to end the count. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress would show the world “what America is made of” with the result.
WATCH: Mitch McConnell interrupts Trump in a violent speech
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.
Hours later, Twitter for the first time blocked Trump’s account, demanded that he remove tweets excusing the violence and threatened with “permanent suspension”.
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 McConnell’s calls, more than 150 Republican lawmakers planned to support objections to some of the results, although they have no evidence of fraud or irregularities in the election.
Trump spent preparations for the process publicly intimidating Pence, who had a largely ceremonial role, to help in the effort to reject the results. He tweeted, “Do this Mike, this is an hour of 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.
SEE ALSO: Rioter enters Nancy Pelosi’s office, takes pictures with her feet on her desk
Subsequently, several Republicans announced that they would withdraw their objections to the election, including Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., Who lost her candidacy for re-election on Tuesday.
Previously, protesters went through the police and stormed the building, shouting and waving Trump and American flags as they marched down the halls, many without masks during the COVID-19 crisis. 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 agents “made us go down, I could see that they were defending themselves from some kind of attack”.
He said they had furniture against the door. “And they pulled their guns,” said Peters. The glass panels on the door of a house have been broken.
The dead woman was part of a crowd that was tearing down the doors of a barricaded room, where armed police were on the other side, the police said. She was shot in the chest by the Capitol Police and taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead. City police said three other people died from medical emergencies during the long protest in and around the Capitol.
Team members took 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.
SEE ALSO: Electoral college ballots rescued while protesters invade the United States Capitol, says senator
The crowd’s invasion of Congress sparked outrage, mainly from Democrats but also from Republicans, as lawmakers accused Trump of fomenting violence with his relentless falsehoods of electoral fraud.
“Don’t count on me,” said Trump’s ally, Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C. “Enough is enough.”
Several suggested that Trump be prosecuted for a crime or even removed under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, which seemed unlikely two weeks after the end of his term.
“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.”
January 6, 2021 pictures
Senator Ben Sasse, R-Neb., Who sometimes clashed with Trump, issued a statement saying: “Lies have consequences. This violence was the inevitable and horrible result of the president’s addiction to constantly nourishing the division.”
SEE ALSO: US lawmakers react to DC protest that blocked Capitol Hill
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.
Punctuating their resolution, the House and Senate vehemently rejected an objection to the results of the Arizona elections, raised by Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Representative Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., And another from Pennsylvania presented by Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., And Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa. Still, the majority of House Republicans supported the objections. Other objections to the results from Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin failed.
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.
As it got dark, police officers advanced towards the protesters, using percussion grenades 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.
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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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