Congress is set to resume counting tonight,
Pelosi says, hours after mob takes control of the Capitol.
The sergeant-at-arms, the top security official at the
Capitol, announced that the building was secure, hours after a mob of Trump
supporters stormed the building on Wednesday.
Lawmakers
will resume counting Electoral College votes on Wednesday, hours after a mob of
Trump loyalists stormed the Capitol, Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said as
she vowed that the attack would not “deter us from our responsibility to
validate the election of Joe Biden.”
In a letter
to colleagues, Ms. Pelosi said she had reached that decision after consulting
with her leadership team and a series of calls with the Pentagon, the Justice
Department and Vice President Mike Pence. She made no mention of the president.
“We always
knew this responsibility would take us into the night,” Ms. Pelosi wrote. “We
also knew that we would be a part of history in a positive way today, despite
ill-founded objections to the Electoral College vote. We now will be part of
history, as such a shameful picture of our country was put out to the world,
instigated at the highest level.”
Violence
overtook the Capitol on Wednesday afternoon, when a mob of people loyal to
President Trump stormed the building, halting Congress’s counting of the
electoral votes as the police evacuated lawmakers from the building in a scene
of violence, chaos and disruption that shook the core of American democracy.
The
sergeant-at-arms, the top security official at the Capitol, announced that the
building had been secured around 5:40 p.m.
The unrest
prompted Mayor Muriel Bowser of Washington to declare a citywide curfew from 6
p.m. Wednesday night to 6 a.m. Thursday morning. The Army is activating the
entire District of Columbia National Guard — 1,100 troops — in response to a
request from the mayor, an Army official said on Wednesday.
The chaos
began around 2:15 p.m., as the House and Senate debated a move by a faction of
Republicans to overturn the election results, security rushed Vice President
Mike Pence out of the Senate chamber and the Capitol building was placed on
lockdown after angry pro-Trump demonstrators surged past barricades and law
enforcement toward the legislative chambers.
For a time,
senators and members of the House were locked inside their respective chambers.
Images posted on social media showed scenes of supporters violently tussling
with the police as at least one person took to the rostrum of the House chamber
to declare his support for Mr. Trump.
A woman,
who seemed to be part of the group that stormed the Capitol, can be seen in a
video posted on social media being shot inside the building. She was in
critical condition with a wound to the neck, The Associated Press reported.
“This is
what you’ve gotten, guys,” Senator Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, yelled as
the mayhem unfolded in the Senate chamber, apparently addressing his colleagues
who were leading the charge to press Mr. Trump’s false claims of a stolen
election.
“This is
what the president has caused today, this insurrection,” Mr. Romney furiously
said later.
Mr. Biden
responded to the violence on Wednesday, saying, “I call on President Trump to
go on national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution
and demand an end to this siege.”
In a brief
video posted to his Twitter account shortly after 4 p.m., Mr. Trump repeated
his baseless claim that “the election was stolen” and spoke in sympathetic and
affectionate terms to members of the mob, advising them to “go home,” adding,
“We love you.”
The posting
came hours after Mr. Trump appeared at a rally in which he exhorted his
supporters to go to the Capitol to register their discontent. Earlier in the
afternoon, Mr. Trump tweeted statements intended to tamp down on the violence.
“Please support
our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement,” he posted. “They are truly on the side
of our Country. Stay peaceful!”
As the
clashes intensified, he tweeted: “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol
to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order
— respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue.”
The
extraordinary day in Washington laid bare deep divisions both between the two
parties and within Republican ranks, when the ceremonial counting of electoral
votes that unfolds every four years in Congress turned into an explosive
spectacle, with Mr. Trump stoking the unrest.
Democratic
lawmakers said the Capitol Police had instructed them to take cover on the
floor and prepare to use gas masks after tear gas was dispersed in the Capitol
Rotunda.
On the
other side of the Capitol, Representative Steve Cohen, Democrat of Tennessee,
yelled out to Republicans on the House floor: “Call Trump, tell him to call off
his revolutionary guards.”
In a scene of
unrest common in other countries but seldom witnessed in the history of the
United States capital, hundreds of people in the mob barreled past fence
barricades outside the Capitol and clashed with officers. Shouting
demonstrators mobbed the second floor lobby just outside the Senate chamber, as
law enforcement officials placed themselves in front of the chamber doors.
Supporters
of President Trump swarmed and entered the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday,
prompting a lockdown and portions of the grounds to be evacuated.
[banging on
door] [yelling] “This way! This way! This way! This way!” “They broke the
glass?” “Everybody stay down, get down!” [crowd noise] [shot fired] “Take that
House, take it now! Take it now!” [flash bang] [crowd noise] “You ain’t gonna
stop us!” [flash bang] [crowd noise]
Multiple
lawmakers reported that the Capitol Police had instructed them to take cover on
the House floor and prepare to use gas masks after tear gas was dispersed in
the Capitol Rotunda of the Capitol.
Shortly afterward, the police escorted senators and members of House
from the building to others nearby, as the mob swarmed the hallways just steps
from where lawmakers were meeting, carrying pro-Trump paraphernalia.
Representative
Nancy Mace, a freshman Republican from South Carolina, described seeing people
“assaulting Capitol Police.” In a Twitter post, Ms. Mace shared a video of the
chaos and wrote, “This is wrong. This is not who we are. I’m heartbroken for
our nation today.”
Other
Republican lawmakers, locked inside the Capitol, used Twitter to urge the mob
to be peaceful.
“This is a
coup attempt,” said Representative Adam Kinzinger, Republican of Illinois.
And later
on Wednesday evening, former President George W. Bush was also among the
high-profile Republicans who sharply condemned what he called “mayhem” and a
“violent assault on the Capitol.”
“This is
how election results are disputed in a banana republic — not our democratic
republic,” he said in a statement. “I am appalled by the reckless behavior of
some political leaders since the election and by the lack of respect shown
today for our institutions, our traditions, and our law enforcement.”
“Insurrection
could do grave damage to our nation and reputation,” he added. “In the United
States of America, it is the fundamental responsibility of every patriotic
citizen to support the rule of law.”
In the
early afternoon, the police fired what appeared to be flash-bang grenades.
Rather than disperse, the demonstrators cheered and shouted, “push forward,
push forward.” One person shouted, “that’s our house,” meaning the Capitol.
Other people repeatedly shouted, “You swore an oath.”
As officers
and members of the mob clashed outside, lawmakers had been debating an
objection to the certification of Arizona electors, ensconced in their
respective chambers. Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the
majority leader, warned of a “death spiral” for democracy, while Representative
Jim Jordan, Republican of Ohio, listed a litany of accusations of election
fraud with little evidence.
“I don’t
recognize our country today, and the members of Congress who have supported
this anarchy do not deserve to represent their fellow Americans,” said
Representative Elaine Luria, Democrat of Virginia.
Kevin
McCarthy, the top Republican in the House urged the people to be peaceful.
— Nicholas
Fandos, Emily Cochrane, Eileen Sullivan, Glenn Thrush, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and
Jonathan Martin
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