AP
Washington Hispanic:
Angry supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday in a chaotic protest aimed at thwarting a peaceful transfer of power, forcing lawmakers to seize the building and disrupting challenges to Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory.
Trump made a restricted call for peace long after the melee was underway, but did not urge supporters to disperse . Earlier he had urged them to march to the Capitol. The Pentagon said that about 1. 100 members of the District of Columbia National Guard were being mobilized to help support law enforcement on Capitol Hill.
Wednesday’s normally mundane congressional procedure of certifying a new president was always going to be extraordinary, with Republican Trump supporters vowing to protest the results of an election that they have unsubstantially insisted was reversed by the fraud. But even the unusual deliberations, which included the Republican Vice President and Senate Majority Leader challenging Trump’s demands, were quickly overcome.
In a raucous and off-scene scene. Control, protesters fought the police and smashed through the building, yelling and waving Trump and US flags as they marched through the hallways. One person was reported shot on Capitol Hill, according to a person familiar with the situation. That person’s condition was unknown.
Protesters abruptly interrupted congressional proceedings in a grisly scene that featured official warnings instructing people to duck under their seats for cover and donning gas masks after tear gas was used in the Capitol Rotunda.
With the crowds showing no signs of abating, Trump tweeted: ‘Please support our police the Capitol and law enforcement. They are really on the side of our country. Stay in peace! » Earlier, at his rally, he had urged supporters to march to the Capitol.
Senators were being evacuated. Some house lawmakers tweeted that they were taking refuge in their offices.
Protesters fought with Capitol police and then forced their way into the building, shortly after a large rally nearby of the White House during which Trump urged them to march to Capitol Hill.
Lawmakers had gathered for an extraordinary joint session to confirm the results of the Electoral College.
Although his fellow Republicans were behind Biden’s challenge to victory 306 – 232 at the College Electoral Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tried to defuse tensions and argued against it. He warned the country that it “cannot drift into two separate tribes” with “separate facts.”
McConnell declared: “The voters, the courts and the states have spoken.” .
But other Republicans, including House Republican Party leaders among Trump allies, were making the pleas of supporters at their huge rally Wednesday across Pennsylvania. Avenue outside the White House to “fight for Trump.”
“We have to fix this,” said Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the GoP whip.
The latest gasping effort is sure to fail, defeated by bipartisan majorities in Congress willing to accept November’s results. Biden is due to be inaugurated on 20 January.
Still, Trump promised he would “never concede” and urged the massive crowd to march to the Capitol, where hundreds of people had already gathered under tight security.
“We will never give up,” Trump told his noon rally.
Vice President Mike Pence was closely watched as he stepped on the daisy to preside over the joint session in the House chamber.
Pence has a largely ceremonial role, opening the sealed state envelopes after they are carried in mahogany boxes used for the occasion, and reading the results aloud. But he was under increasing pressure from Trump to override the will of the voters and tip the results in favor of the president, despite having no legal power to affect the outcome.
“Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!” Trump tweeted Wednesday.
But Pence, in a statement shortly before presiding, challenged Trump, saying he could not claim “unilateral authority” to reject the electoral votes that make president to Biden.
Despite Trump’s repeated claims of voter fraud, election officials and his own former attorney general have said there were no issues on a scale that would change the outcome . All states have certified their results as fair and accurate, by both Republican and Democratic officials.
Arizona was the first of several states that faced objections from Republicans, as Congress took an alphabetical reading of the election results. Then chaos broke out.