Highlights:
- The US Capitol was swarmed by Donald Trump supporters on Wednesday where violence erupted later
- Trump supporters flared as lawmakers met inside to officially certify the win of Biden over Trump in the election on November 3
- President Trump, who hours earlier addressed supporters and made accusations of election fraud, ordered supporters to ‘stay peaceful’
After supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump swarmed inside the US Capitol building as lawmakers were counting Electoral College votes to certify the election win of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris, four people died on Wednesday on the US Capitol grounds and 52 people were arrested.
Robert J Contee, who is the Chief of the Metropolitan Police Department, in a late night Press Conference, said that 47 of the 52 arrests to date were due to violations of the 6 pm curfew by Mayor Muriel Bowser, with 26 of those including people detained on U.S. Capitol grounds. Several others were arrested on charges related to possessing weapons that were unlicensed or prohibited.
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The US Capitol was swarmed with demonstrators supporting Donald Trump, putting it on lockdown, as Vice President Mike Pence rebuffed the president’s demand to reverse his defeat to Democrat Joe Biden, and the Republican leader of the Senate denounced a bid in Congress to overturn the election result.
Supporters of Trump toppled barricades and clashed on the grounds of the US Capitol with police and streamed inside the building. As lawmakers met inside to officially certify Biden’s win over Trump in the November 3 election, the protests flared. In order to maintain order, law enforcement officials failed.
A band of pro-Trump Republican lawmakers suddenly and shockingly recessed the Senate and the House of Representatives, which were considering objections to Biden’s win.
The opening of the joint session of Congress to officially certify Biden’s November 3 win over Trump was presided over by Pence, a loyal lieutenant during the four years of Trump’s tumultuous presidency. The results, first from the election battleground state of Arizona won by Biden, were immediately questioned by a band of Republican lawmakers.
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Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader opposed to the effort, saying, “If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral.” McConnell helped give Trump some of his presidency’s biggest accomplishments, including deep tax cuts and conservative judicial nominees’ confirmation.
In the state-by-state Electoral College and by more than 7 million votes in the national popular vote, Biden won the election by 306-232, but Trump continues to falsely assert that there was massive fraud and that he was the victor.
On the floor of the US Senate, Adison McConnell Jr. said that “The voters, courts and states have all spoken, if we overrule them, it would damage our republic forever.”
Calling the challenges “an attempted coup” Charles Ellis Schumer, Senate Democratic leader said, “The Congress does not determine the outcome of an election. The people do.”
On the same day that Trump’s fellow Republicans were poised to lose their majority in the Senate, Pence turned away Trump’s demand that the vice president unilaterally refuse state electoral votes. It could last past midnight for the joint session of Congress.
On a grassy expanse outside the White House called the Ellipse, Trump earlier told thousands of cheering supporters said, “We will never give up, we will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved.” In his speech, Trump applied fresh pressure on Pence to try to reverse the results of the election. Pence said in a statement that he shares the concerns regarding the “integrity” of the election, but it is not right that he should be allowed arbitrarily to accept or refuse electoral votes.
