A Calm Before the Storm
12:28 PM: Steven Nelson of the New York Post tweets a picture that shows a fairly sparse crowd on the east side of the Capitol in front of the Library of Congress: “...scene outside Capitol 10 minutes from VP Pence’s expected arrival to preside over joint session. Any heckling will be hard for Pence to hear due to security buffer.”
12:30 PM: Jennifer Jacobs of Bloomberg tweets a video of people moving in the direction of the Capitol: “Floods of people left in the middle of Trump’s remarks at the Ellipse and are now headed to the US Capitol.”
12:30 PM: Senate President pro tempore Sen. Charles Grassley (RIA) calls the Senate to order.
The President pro tempore, the second-highest-ranking Senate official after the Vice President, is generally the senior senator serving in Congress. He is the third in line to succession of the Presidency, under the Constitution.
12:30 PM: Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), a believer in voter fraud, arrives at the Capitol. He gives a thumbs up, a fist pump and waves as the crowd cheered.
12:36 PM: Richard Hall of The Independent (UK) tweets: “Trump still talking
but a sizable number heading [to the Capitol] now. I’m following along.”
12:40 PM: Some confrontations begin between protesters and police at the base of the west side of the Capitol building, on the street level nearest to the National Mall.
12:45 PM: At least a dozen SUVS park in front of the Capitol building.
It is unclear who is arriving, whether it is the FBI or the Secret Service. Three of the four top successors to the presidency under the U.S. Constitution—vice President Mike Pence, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and President pro tempore of the Senate Chuck Grassley—are present in the Capitol.
12:49 PM: U.S. Capitol Police (USCP) respond to a report of a possible explosive device at the Republican National Committee headquarters. Shortly afterward, a second pipe bomb is reported at the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. A parked vehicle in the area is also found to hold an M4 assault rifle, a handgun and components for 11 Molotov cocktails with what is described as homemade napalm.
According to the DHS Tripwire report published on January 7: “On 6 January 2021...officers discovered two IEDS outside the Republican National Committee (RNC) Headquarters and Democratic National Committee Headquarters, respectively, several blocks from the Capitol. Both devices were described as pipe bombs, and the RNC device was wired with an analog timer. The USCP Hazardous Materials Response Team examined the IEDS, determined they were viable, rendered them safe and turned them over to the FBI for additional analysis. Authorities also discovered a cooler filled with improvised incendiary devices (IIDS) described as Molotov cocktails near the Capitol.”
12:51 PM: Elijah Schaffer of The Blaze tweets a video from around the Washington Monument: “...There are at least 100,000+ people just in the overflow for the event. Videos can not [sic] describe the size of the crowd. This is wild.”
12:51 PM: After conducting routine business, the Senate, preceded by the Secretary of the Senate, Julie E. Adams, and the Deputy Sergeant at Arms, Jennifer Hemingway, direct the procession of the senators to the Hall of the House of Representatives for the purpose of counting electoral ballots.
12:53 PM: Vice President Pence releases a statement from a “Dear Colleague” letter that says he lacks the authority to reject electoral votes. “My oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority,” he says. The two-and-a-half page letter says:
“After a careful study of our Constitution, our laws, and our history, I believe neither view is correct...vesting the Vice President with unilateral authority to decide presidential contests would be entirely antithetical to that design...no Vice President in American history has ever asserted such authority.”
“It is my considered judgement 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.”
“I will do my duty to see to it that we open the certificates of the Electors of the several states, we hear objections raised by Senators and Representatives, and we count the votes of the Electoral College for President and Vice President in a matter consistent with our Constitution, laws, and history. So help me God.”
12:55 PM: The House is called to order by Speaker Pelosi (D-CA). She says that, due to COVID restrictions, each side, House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, are allowed to have 11 members present on the floor (44 total). Others have to be in the gallery and practice social distancing.
12:57 PM: Harrison Smith of The Washington Post tweets: “Marching down Constitution, past the American History Museum. ‘We live under a criminal cartel,’ man says on loudspeaker. ‘Time we put an end to it.’”
12:59 PM: A Joint Session of the House and the Senate “held pursuant to the provisions of Senate Concurrent Resolution 1” is called to order, and House Sergeant at Arms Paul D. Irving announces the Vice President and the Senate joining the House chamber as Mike Pence and the senators arrive.