U.S. Capitol breached as police struggle to control crowd
The U.S. Capitol building was breached today, as Congress was in the process of counting the Electoral College votes certifying Democrat Joe Biden as the next president.
The news came amid the backdrop of President Donald Trump (R) and his supporters opposing the confirmed election results for weeks, and promulgating conspiracy theories that have been widely debunked.
The Congressional proceedings were recessed on Wednesday afternoon, as the pro-Trump demonstration escalated, and all lawmakers and media in the Capitol were told to shelter in place. Shortly before 3 p.m., U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT), from the locked-down Capitol, tweeted that there was tear gas in the Rotunda, and police told them to put on the gas masks which were under their seats. Some lawmakers were evacuated, and some were hunkered down in their offices nearby.
By 3:23 p.m., House members had reportedly been removed to an undisclosed part of the Capitol building, and the Senate wing had been cleared of demonstrators. At the same time, CNN released video showing a protest turned to mob, with people seen breaking a window of the Capitol building and climbing through it. A woman was being treated for a gunshot wound on the Capitol grounds, CNN also reported. Multiple officers were reportedly injured in the violence outside the building.
Well after this chaos began, Trump via Twitter called for peaceful protest, but multiple lawmakers from both parties urged the president to speak out more forcefully. U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican, said he hadn’t seen anything like this since his military service in Iraq. He said the president should tell his followers the election “is over.”
“Call it off, Mr. President, we need you to call it off,” Gallagher told CNN.
The entire D.C. National Guard and the Virginia State Police were both ordered to the Capitol to restore order. As of 4 p.m., a man with a bullhorn was heard by media outlets telling the crowd to attack national news organizations.
In nationally televised remarks, President-elect Biden addressed the American people, including Trump, who he urged to get on national television and “put an end to this siege.”
“This is not dissent, it's disorder. It borders on sedition, and it must end,” Biden said. “I call on this mob to pull back and allow the work of democracy to go forward.”
He also called for, over the next four years, a “renewal of a politics that’s about solving problems.”
“Through war and strife, America has endured much, and we will endure here, and we will prevail again, and we will prevail now,” Biden said.
— Gareth Henderson
