Police in the USA Capitol On Wednesday, they responded with guns drawn and tear gas as swarms of protesters stormed in trying to force Congress to reverse President Donald Trump’s loss of the election shortly after some of Trump’s Republicans made a final attempt to overturn the results .
Police evacuated the House of Representatives and Senate after pro-Trump protesters marched through the convention halls and forced both houses to suspend deliberations as they met to see President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the November 3 election to confirm.
A protester took the Senate podium and shouted, “Trump won this election.”
The video showed police using tear gas in the building.
The chaotic scenes that played out after Trump stepped down from office on Jan. 20 targeted thousands of protesters and reiterated false claims that the election was stolen from him because of widespread electoral fraud and irregularities. Lawmakers had debated one final effort by pro-Trump lawmakers to question the results, an effort that was unlikely to be successful.
Vice President Mike Pence, who chaired the joint session of Congress, had already been escorted from the Senate.
Capitol Police asked lawmakers in the chamber of the house to take gas masks from under their seats and prepare to put them on. Officers at the front door of the chamber of the house had their guns drawn when someone tried to enter the chamber.
The officers ordered people in the chamber to fall to the ground for their safety.
Election officials from both parties and independent observers said there was no significant fraud in the November 3 contest, which Biden won with more than 7 million votes in the national referendum.
Weeks have passed since states finalized confirmation that Democrat Biden won the election with 306 electoral college votes to Trump’s 232 votes. Trump’s extraordinary challenges to Biden’s victory have been rejected by courts across the country.
Trump urged Pence to discard election results in states that the president had narrowly lost, even though Pence has no authority to do so.
Certification in Congressional, usually a formality, should take several hours as some Republican lawmakers strove to turn down some state numbers, starting with Arizona.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell condemned the effort, saying, “If this election were overturned by mere allegations on the losing side, our democracy would be caught in a death spiral.” McConnell helped Trump achieve some of the greatest accomplishments of his presidency, including deep tax cuts and the confirmation of conservative candidates for justice.
Voters, courts and states “have all spoken,” McConnell said in the Senate. “If we overrule it, it would damage our republic forever,” he added.
The Senate Democratic Chairman Chuck Schumer called the challenges “an attempted coup” and said, “Congress does not determine the outcome of an election. People do. “
Outside of CapitolMembers of militia groups and far-right groups, some in body armor, mingled with the crowd. Protesters chanting pro-Trump slogans toppled barricades and clashed with police.
On Twitter, Trump urged the protesters to remain peaceful.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowers ordered an entire city curfew from 6 p.m. (2300 GMT).
Pence denied Trump’s demand that the vice president unilaterally reject state votes on the same day that Trump’s Republican colleagues were ready to lose their Senate majority.
“We will never give up,” Trump previously told thousands of cheering supporters in a meadow near the White House called Ellipse. “We will never admit. It doesn’t happen. They don’t admit when it comes to theft. “
Trump put new pressure on Pence in his speech to try to reverse the election results. In a statement, Pence said he shared concerns about the “integrity” of the election, but that is incorrect, that he should be able to unilaterally accept or reject votes.
The U.S. Constitution doesn’t give Pence the power to unilaterally reverse election results, but he’s under pressure from Trump to do so.
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