CAPITOL INVASION
Guns drawn to protect House from mob of Trump supporters
After a Washington, DC, rally in which President Trump claimed the election was stolen and protesters should march to the Capitol, a group smashed through police barricades and into the building— where armed guards protected the House chamber.
Congress’ attempt to certify the results of the presidential election devolved into a scene of total chaos Wednesday as backers of President Trump overran police and stormed the US Capitol, breaching the very halls of our nation’s democracy.
All hell broke loose at about 1:30 p.m. as protesters who had already penetrated the Capitol grounds pushed past police and into the building where hundreds of lawmakers, including Vice President Mike Pence, had gathered to affirm the victory of President-elect Joe Biden.
Outnumbered police barricaded the door from inside the chamber of the House of Representatives, training their service weapons on the entrance as protesters massed outside.
Several other protesters made it onto the floor of the Senate, with at least two caught in photos on the dais, occupying the seat usually held by Pence, the president of the Senate.
“Trump won that election!” one of the protesters who took to Pence’s seat could be heard saying, according to a reporter’s tweet.
Another invading protester was photographed inside the personal office of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi with one foot up on her desk.
At least one suspected improvised explosive device was found on the Capitol grounds, while two more were discovered near the headquarters of the Republican and Democratic national committees in downtown DC.
The device found outside the RNC, which consisted of a metal pipe with wires connected to a plastic kitchen timer, was safely detonated by responders, according to The Washington Post.
The bedlam began following a raucous rally speech from Trump, in which he again claimed without evidence that the 2020 election had been rigged against him, and called on Pence and congressional Republicans to sabotage the certification process.
In Trump’s first public comments after the Capitol siege was widely reported, he condemned his vice president for not doing more to fight the certification.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify,” he wrote.
“USA demands the truth!” Protesters broke through a flimsy fence surrounding the Capitol grounds, and scaled the steps to the building, going toeto-toe with police.
At least one protester got his hands on a hard plastic riot shield and was caught on video using it to shatter a large window of the building, letting himself and his allies in. Some carried American flags, others the Confederate Stars and Bars.
Many bore Trump campaign flags.
After breaching the building, several protesters made it onto the building’s balcony, where at least one Gadsden flag, bearing the legend “Don’t Tread on Me,” was draped.
At one point, the crowd outside could be heard belting out The Star-Spangled Banner.
Inside, the certification process was interrupted, with lawmakers told to take shelter.
Pence and other lawmakers were evacuated to safety through subterranean escape tunnels.
But others, including journalists and staffers, were forced to hunker down as the horde had their run of the seat of American democracy.
Capitol Police, who according to sources had never expected that the building would be breached, were overwhelmed, and outside law enforcement did not respond in force for hours.
The boom of flash-bangs was a frequent sound throughout the day in the city’s streets.
At about 4 p.m., heavily armed federal and local law enforcement began sweeping through the building, ejecting lingering protesters and escorting those caught in their path to safety.
All told, 13 protesters were arrested, and five weapons seized by authorities.
Finally, about two hours after the siege began, Trump addressed the protesters directly in a speech prerecorded in the Rose Garden, telling them, “I know your pain. We had an election that was stolen from us . . . [but] we can’t play into the hands of these people.
“We have to have peace. We love you, you are very special . . . but go home and go in peace.”
DC Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a 6 p.m. curfew for the city as the Beltway bedlam unfolded.
As darkness fell, lines of riot gear-clad law enforcement gradually pushed stragglers down the steps of the Capitol building, establishing a secure and widening perimeter.
But several determined protesters stuck around, defying the curfew order.
As the mob refused to back down, however, so too did lawmakers, who vowed to return to the building Wednesday night to resume the certification process.