‘UN-AMERICAN’
Incited by Trump, mob storms seat of U.S. democracy, delaying electoral count
AWASHINGTON violent mob loyal to President Donald Trump 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 nation’s elected representatives scrambled to crouch under desks and don gas masks, while police futilely tried to barricade the building, one of the most jarring scenes ever to unfold in a seat of American political power. A woman was shot and killed inside the Capitol, and Washington’s mayor instituted an evening curfew in an attempt to contain the violence.
The rioters were egged on by Trump, who has spent weeks falsely attacking the integrity of the election and had urged his supporters to descend on Washington to protest Congress’ formal approval of Biden’s victory. Some Republican lawmakers were in the midst of raising objections to the results on his behalf when the proceedings were abruptly halted by the mob. Together, the protests and the GOP election objections amounted to an almost unthinkable challenge to American democracy and exposed the depths of the divisions that have coursed through the country during Trump’s four years in office. Though the efforts to block Biden from being sworn in on Jan. 20 were sure to fail, the support Trump has received for his efforts to overturn the election results have badly strained the nation’s democratic guardrails.
WASHINGTON — The mob of Trump supporters pressed through police barricades, broke windows and battered their way with metal poles through entrances to the Capitol. Then, stunningly, they breached the “People’s House” itself, forcing masked police officers to draw their guns to keep the insurgents off the chamber floor.
“I thought we’d have to fight our way out,” said Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., a former Army Ranger in Iraq, who found himself captive in the House chamber.
What unfolded at that point, at times on national television, was a tableau of violence and mayhem that shocked the nation, one of the most severe breaches of the Capitol since the British invaded during the War of 1812 and burned it down.
An armed standoff ensued in the House chamber, with police officers drawing their weapons. A pro-Trump protester casually monkeyed around at the dais of the Senate. Intruders in Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s suite overturned desks and smashed photos. Others ripped artwork in Senate hideaway offices.
“This is what the president has caused today, this insurrection,” Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said as he and other senators were hustled off to a secure location.
Some of the protesters gawked at the grand and storied building they had unlawfully flooded while others looked at it with contempt.
“I don’t trust any of these people,” said Eric Martin, 49, a woodworker from Charleston, S.C., as he marveled at the opulence of the Capitol and helped a friend wash pepper spray from his eyes. “Absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
But if some only stared at the Capitol, others resorted to violence. A woman inside the building was shot and later died, the District of Columbia police said, and multiple officers were injured. Two explosive devices were found around noon near the headquarters of the Republican National Committee, then destroyed by a bomb squad. And the federal authorities arrested a 70-year-old man from Alabama near the Capitol in possession of a firearm and materials to make several Molotov cocktails.
By Wednesday evening, the scene outside the Capitol had calmed, after Capitol Police, supplemented by FBI agents and Homeland Security officers with members of the National Guard on their way, squeezed protesters from every corner of the Capitol to the majestic Rotunda, then persuaded them to leave.
Before that was mayhem. At one point, as lawmakers and staff members were rushing out of a Senate chamber under assault, aides rushed back to grab boxes containing the Electoral College certificates, making sure that the protesters could not literally steal the results of the election.
It began around 1 p.m. Eastern, when a mass of Trump supporters, some in camouflage and armed with baseball bats or knives, left the National Mall and, encouraged by President Donald Trump, ascended on the Capitol complex. Leaders exhorted the crowd through megaphones, “This is our house” and “Move forward!”
The few police officers standing on the steps of the Capitol were overwhelmed. Their flash bang grenades only invigorated the protesters. Around 2:30 p.m., an entrance near the west side of the Capitol descended into chaos as a wave of Trump supporters wearing Make America Great Again apparel pressed past police barricades.
Soon, a nervous energy pulsed through the room. The police began to close the gallery doors, which had remained open to allow for better ventilation as lawmakers streamed in. Congressional leaders were quickly ushered out, as staff aides urged lawmakers in the gallery and on the floor to remain calm.
“This is because of you,” Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., yelled from the gallery at his Republican colleagues.
Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and a former Pentagon official, was on her way to the House chamber when she heard screaming, breaking glass, and what sounded like a flash bang. She returned to her office, locked the door, offered shelter to a colleague and began working the phones.
One of her first calls was to Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to plead for help from the National Guard.
“I said, ‘Mark, I absolutely understand that you are between a rock and a hard place. But we need help here. There are weapons,’ ” she said.
In the House, just after
2:30 p.m., a police officer stepped on the dais and informed lawmakers that they might need to duck under their chairs.
“We now have individuals that have breached the Capitol building,” he said, warning them to be prepared to relocate to the cloakrooms. “They are in the Rotunda.”
Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., a veteran, jumped on the armrests of chairs and began directing members to move calmly and quickly from the chamber. Frantic shouting filled the room as lawmakers struggled to unfold the plastic bags that they were instructed to put over their heads in case of tear gas. Police officers and members of the floor staff began yelling for lawmakers to exit.
A wooden chest was pushed in front of the main doors to the chamber. Security officers drew their guns, pointing and shouting at the entrance, as lawmakers, staff aides and reporters cowered in the top levels of the chamber. There was a bang, and everyone was told to get down.
Shortly after 2:45 p.m., the evacuation resumed. With the police in the lead, guns drawn, the lawmakers entered a scene of havoc, Crow said. Some police officers scrambled to barricade other doors to block pro-Trump extremists. Others pinned some protesters to the ground to allow the lawmakers to pass.
“We heard yelling through the halls,” said Crow, who said he brought up the rear to ensure all the members made it to safely. As the police led the members down stairwells and into the subterranean maze of tunnels to a secure location, Crow said he called his wife in Colorado, who had been watching the scene on television.
But the mob continued to stream in. A young man in a red baseball hat was helping people through a broken window. Inside, two large wooden desks were on their sides, broken. Two large panels of glass were crushed on the colorful tile floor.
In a surreal scene of chaos and glee, hundreds of Trump loyalists roamed the halls, taking photos and breaking into offices. No police officers were in view. In a room where there were images of mountains and maps of Oregon on the wall, a man in a leather jacket ripped a scroll with Chinese characters. A young man put a framed picture of the Dalai Lama in his backpack.
“We’re claiming the House, and the Senate is ours,” shouted a sweaty man in a checked shirt, shouted, stabbing his finger in the air.