The riot interrupted Congress’ Electoral College count that will formalize Biden’s upcoming inauguration on Jan. 20. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the joint session would resume Wednesday night.
A mob of President Donald Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday and forced lawmakers into hiding, in a stunning attempt to overturn America’s presidential election, undercut the nation’s democracy and keep Democrat Joe Biden from replacing Trump in the White House.
The National Guard and state and federal police were called in for control, and the mayor of Washington imposed a rare evening curfew. A woman who was shot inside the Capitol during the violence has died, a source told the Associated Press.
The Trump supporters were egged on by the president and his false attacks on the integrity of the November presidential election. While rallying his supporters outside the White House Wednesday morning, he urged them to march to the Capitol. But later — hours after they fought police and breached the building — he told them that although they were "very special people” and he backed their cause, they should “go home in peace.”
President-elect Biden, two weeks away from being inaugurated, had declared in Wilmington, Delaware: "I call on President Trump to go on national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege,”
Biden said that democracy was ’“under unprecedented assault," a sentiment echoed by many in Congress, including some Republicans.
The violent riot halted Congress’ constitutionally mandated counting of the Electoral College results, in which Biden defeated Trump, 306-232.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had tried to steer Congress away from Wednesday's formal protest of those results, and he said at the start of proceedings that Trump had clearly lost.
Wednesday’s ordinarily mundane procedure of Congress certifying a new president was always going to be extraordinary, with Republican supporters of Trump vowing to protest election results that have been certified by the states. But even the unusual deliberations, which included Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Majority Leader McConnell defying Trump’s demands, were quickly overtaken by the chaos.
In a raucous, out-of-control scene, Trump supporters fought past police and breached the building, shouting and waving Trump and American flags as they marched through the halls. At least one explosive device was found that was detonated.
The rioters abruptly interrupted the congressional proceedings in an eerie scene that featured official warnings directing people to duck under their seats for cover and put on gas masks after tear gas was used in the Capitol Rotunda.
The crowds abruptly interrupted the congressional proceedings in an eerie scene that featured official warnings directing people to duck under their seats for cover and put on gas masks after tear gas was used in the Capitol Rotunda.
Senators were being evacuated. Some House lawmakers tweeted they were sheltering in place in their offices.
The Pentagon said about 1,100 District of Columbia National Guard members were being mobilized to help support law enforcement at the Capitol.
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