Pro-Trump anarchists in Washington D.C. stormed Capitol Hill in an act of violence stoked by Donald Trump, who has continued peddling election conspiracy theories.
Today marked the certification of president-elect Joe Biden’s victory by Congress—an ordinary process that, like all things under Trump, has deteriorated into a volatile and uncertain situation.
Vice President Mike Pence was quickly evacuated by security while the rest of the Senate members were locked in their chambers.
The scene on the ground was chaos as Senator Mitt Romney reportedly yelled, “This is what you’ve gotten,” to his colleagues including Ted Cruz, who has been a vocal supporter of Trump illegitimate crusade.
Both the House and Senate recessed in response to the breach, and Vice President Mike Pence, who was in the Senate, was whisked away.
Lawmakers and staff were ordered to seek shelter and remain away from doors and windows.
As protesters made their way inside the complex, senators and members of the press were evacuated from the Senate chamber, and armed officers inside the House chamber aimed firearms at protesters attempting to breach the barricaded doors.
The incredible scene unfolded after lawmakers gathered in a joint session to count the Electoral College votes and seal Biden’s victory in November’s election.
Soon after the joint session began, GOP lawmakers objected to results from Arizona, a move that prompted each chamber to begin debating the objection separately.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell excoriated his fellow Republicans’ efforts to block state electors, saying that overturning the will of the voters would “damage our republic forever” in a blistering speech from the Senate floor.
Protesters who had gathered outside made their way into the chamber not long after McConnell’s speech.
Trump had been urging Pence to reject the electoral votes from states he lost, but the vice president declined to do so, saying in a letter to congressional colleagues,
“It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.”
As the chaos unfolded inside the Capitol, Trump refused to call on his supporters to end the siege, eventually urging them only to “remain peaceful.”
The National Guard was also delayed, with the Department of Defense refusing to help during the first hours of the anarchy.