U.S. CAPITOL UNDER SIEGE
Rioters delay — but fail to halt — electoral count
WASHINGTON — Locking arms in a rare show of unity, Congress moved late Wednesday toward confirming President-elect Joe Biden’s victory after a mob President Donald Trump’s loyalists stormed and occupied the Capitol.
They disrupted the final electoral count in a shocking display of violence that left a woman dead and shook the core of American democracy.
There was no parallel in modern U.S. history, with insurgents acting in the president’s name vandalizing Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office, smashing windows, looting art and briefly taking control of the Senate Chamber.
There, fists raised, they took turns posing for photographs on the dais where Vice President Mike Pence had just presided.
Outside the building, they erected a gallows, punctured the tires of a police SUV and left a note on its windshield saying, “PELOSI IS SATAN.”
By the time the Senate reconvened, hours after lawmakers had been evacuated from a Capitol overrun by rebels carrying pro-trump parapher
“It’s not protest, it’s insurrection. ... I call on President Trump to go on national television now... and demand an end to this siege.” PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN
“I know your pain. We had an election that was stolen from us. But you have to go home now. We have to have law and order.” PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP
nalia, one of the nation’s most polarizing moments had yielded an unexpected window of solidarity that briefly eclipsed partisan division.
Republicans and Democrats alike rose to denounce the violence and express their determination to carry out what they called a constitutionally sacrosanct function.
“To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today, you did not win,” Pence said in a sharp break from Trump, who had praised the mob. “Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the people’s house.”
Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell, R-KY., said the “failed insurrection” only had clarified Congress’ purpose.
“They tried to disrupt our democracy,” he said. “They failed.”
Under pressure from their colleagues, some Republicans who had planned several hours of objections to Biden’s victory agreed to drop their challenges. But Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri pressed forward with a challenge to Pennsylvania’s electors, pushing the certification process deep into the night. debated Lawmakers an objection earlier to in Arizona’s the night results lodged just before the violence broke out in the Capitol. The House blocked the attempt with a 303-121 vote. The Senate offered as sharp rebuke with a 93-6 vote.
The upheaval unfolded on a day when Democrats secured a stunning pair of victories in run-off elections in georgia, effective control of the Senate and the complete levers of power in Washington. And it arrived as Congress met for what normally would have been a perfunctory and ceremonial session to declare Biden’s election.
From the start, Trump’s allies, acting at his behest, had been determined to use the session to formally contest the outcome.
Republicans, Driving a painful they trumpeted wedge among his false claims of voting fraud and initially gave voice inside the Capitol to those who ultimately forced their way in, stopping the winning process in its tracks. took Lawmakers shelter together and Pence near mostly the Capitol, amid violent clashes between protesters and law enforcement, but small groups reported being stranded for a time in offices and hideaways throughout the building.
Capitol Police, reinforced by the FBI and National Guard in tactical gear, retook the Capitol complex after more than three hours of mayhem.
Before order was restored, a woman was shot by police, and authorities said three other people died after medical emergencies.
Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington declared a citywide curfew from 6 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. today.
The siege was the climax of a weekslong campaign by Trump, filled with baseless claims of fraud and outright lies, to try to over
turn a democratically decided election that he lost.
He fought the result in court with dozens of spurious lawsuits that he lost. He outright pressured Republican leaders in key battleground states to reverse the will of the voters. And he fought, at last, to turn the congressional counting into the site of his final stand.
“We gather due to a selfish man’s injured pride, and the outrage of supporters who he has deliberately misinformed for the past two months and stirred to action this very morning,” said Sen. Mitt Romney, R-utah. “What hap-pened here today was an insurrection incited by the president of the United States.”
Far from discouraging confrontation, Trump had encouraged his supporters earlier Wednesday to confront Republican lawmakers going against him to side with the Constitution.
“We will never concede,” he told a group of thousands gathered near the White House, calling members of his own party preparing to finalize his loss “weak Republicans, pathetic Republicans” whose leadership had gone “down the tubes.”