From Yahoo:
“Trump
supporters storm Congress, halting electoral vote certification debate”
A violent,
armed mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol Building Wednesday,
entering the House and Senate chambers and forcing legislators and staff to
take shelter. The astonishing turn of events came an hour after President Trump
exhorted a Washington rally to protest the congressional certification of the
Electoral College vote, a process that would seal President-elect Joe Biden’s
victory. The unprecedented violent protest brought a halt to the debate on the
futile attempt by some Republican lawmakers to decertify the results from a
number of states. After attending a “Stop the Steal” rally, thousands of people
surrounded the Capitol building, bounded up the steps and set up barricades
using a ladder. Standing on top of an entrance, one man looked down and said,
“This is epic. We’re taking the Capitol back.” Protesters overpowered Capitol
Police and stormed the building. "The president invited us here and we're
not leaving,” another protester shouted.
Multiple shots
were fired and CNN reported that a female protester was in critical condition
after being shot in the chest. Capitol Police also reported that several
officers had been injured in the clashes. Washington chief of police Peter
Newsham said that protesters deployed “chemical irritants on police” as they
stormed the U.S. Capitol, the Associated Press reported. Vice President Mike Pence,
who was presiding over the proceedings in the Senate, was taken to a secure
location by the U.S. Secret Service out of fear for his safety. House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris were also placed in secure
locations. With the Capitol complex in lockdown, Trump issued a belated plea
for calm. Notably, Trump did not instruct his supporters to disperse, and his
tweet was met with angry responses from Democrats and some Republicans who said
the president’s words had led to the day’s developments. Minutes later, Pelosi
and Schumer issued a joint statement. “We are calling on President Trump to
demand that all protesters leave the U.S. Capitol and Capitol grounds
immediately,” the statement read. With Trump steering clear of television
cameras since attending his rally earlier in the day, Biden delivered a stern
message. “I call on this mob to pull back and allow democracy to go forward,”
Biden said, adding, “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.”
Trump
supporters By the time the president
strengthened his calls for cooperation with the police, his protesters, many of
whom were armed and had not passed through a metal detector, had already broken
through a police barricade and entered the Capitol’s Statuary Hall. At least
one improvised explosive device was found on the grounds, NBC reported. Approximately
1,100 members of the National Guard were activated to help put down what
Democrats said was a coup attempt. In a statement to the press, Acting
Secretary Miller said he had spoken with Pence, Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell and Schumer about the plan. “We have fully activated the
D.C. National Guard to assist federal and local law enforcement as they work to
peacefully address the situation. We are prepared to provide additional support
as necessary and appropriate as requested by local authorities,” Miller said in
his statement. With the siege continuing, Trump finally relented,
issuing a video from the White House that, while it urged his supporters to
leave the Capitol, also seemed to justify their behavior. “I know your
pain, I know your hurt,” Trump told his supporters. “We had an election that
was stolen from us. It was a landslide election and everyone knows it,
especially the other side. Trump’s remarks were littered with false and
unsubstantiated claims of election fraud, and social media companies quickly
flagged the video on their platforms as containing disputed information. In
fact, it was those same claims that inspired a mob of his supporters to travel
to Washington to protest in the first place. “This was a fraudulent
election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people,” Trump added.
Pence, who had
been criticized by Trump and his followers for not agreeing to simply overturn
the results of the Electoral College vote, issued his own statement as the
violence continued. “The violence and destruction taking place at the US
Capitol Must Stop and it Must Stop Now. Anyone involved must respect Law
Enforcement officers and immediately leave the building,” Pence tweeted.
“Peaceful protest is the right of every American but this attack on our Capitol
will not be tolerated and those involved will be prosecuted to the fullest
extent of the law.” Trump had urged his followers to travel to Washington to
attend the rally, and he addressed them at the Washington Ellipse shortly
before Congress began the electoral vote count. “We’re going to walk down and
I’ll be there with you,” Trump said, adding, “We’re going to walk down to the
Capitol and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and
women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much some of them.”
Instead, Trump
returned to the White House while many in the crowd did just as he asked and
began laying siege to the Capitol. Several buildings were evacuated as
protesters clashed with police. As the chaos unfolded, instead of issuing a
call for calm and urging his supporters to cooperate with Capitol Police, Trump
incited protests against Vice President Mike Pence. Minutes later, the
president issued a second tweet urging the same supporters who he’d whipped up
into a frenzy over bogus claims of election fraud to “Stay peaceful!”
As members of Congress took shelter in the basement of the Capitol Building, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser announced a 6 p.m. ET curfew. Armed protesters stormed the Senate chamber and the offices of several lawmakers, with one climbing the dais and proclaiming, “Trump won that election!” Predictably, some of Trump’s backers in Congress blamed the violence on left-wing provocateurs from antifa. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., meanwhile, announced that she was introducing an new set of articles of impeachment against Trump.
^ This
attempted Coup is a disgusting display and anyone who takes part in it is a
Traitor and can no longer call themselves an American. We are NOT a Banana
Republic. We ARE the United States of America and no matter what these armed
criminals try to do come January 20th Biden WILL become President and our
Democracy WILL continue as it has for 245 years! ^
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