A3
THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, JANUARY 7, 2021
Chaos erupts as protesters storm Capitol
Lawmakers
evacuated amid
Electoral College
vote count
By LISA MASCARO
and MARY CLARE
JALONICK
Associated Press
WASHINGTON
—
Angry supporters of Presi-
dent Donald Trump stormed
the U.S. Capitol on Wednes-
day in a chaotic protest
aimed at thwarting a peace-
ful transfer of power, forc-
ing lawmakers to be rushed
from the building and inter-
rupting challenges to Presi-
dent-elect Joe Biden’s Elec-
toral College victory.
In a video message,
Trump urged supporters to
“go home” but is also keep-
ing up false attacks about the
presidential election.
The video was issued
more than two hours after
protesters began storming
the Capitol. Trump had ear-
lier egged them on to march
to the Capitol before issuing
a call for peace.
Trump opened his video,
saying, “I know your pain.
I know your hurt. But you
have to go home now.”
He also went on to call
the supporters “very spe-
cial.” He also said, “we can’t
play into the hands of these
people. We have to have
peace. So go home. We love
you. You’re very special.”
Wednesday’s ordinarily
mundane procedure of Con-
gress certifying a new presi-
dent was always going to be
extraordinary, with Repub-
lican supporters of Trump
vowing to protest results of
an election that they have
baselessly insisted was
reversed by fraud. But even
the unusual deliberations,
which included the Republi-
can vice president and Sen-
ate majority leader defy-
ing Trump’s demands, were
quickly overtaken.
In a raucous, out-of-con-
trol scene, protesters fought
past police and breached
the building, shouting and
waving Trump and Amer-
ican fl ags as they marched
through the halls. A woman
who was shot inside the
Capitol during the protest
has died.
The protesters abruptly
interrupted the congressio-
nal proceedings in an eerie
scene that featured offi cial
warnings directing people
to duck under their seats for
cover and put on gas masks
after tear gas was used in the
Capitol Rotunda.
With the crowds showing
no signs of abating, Trump
tweeted, “Please support
our Capitol Police and Law
Enforcement. They are truly
on the side of our Country.
Stay peaceful!”
Biden has called the vio-
lent protests on the Capi-
tol “an assault on the most
sacred of American under-
takings: the doing of the
people’s business.”
In a tweet Wednes-
day afternoon, Vice Presi-
dent Mike Pence said, “This
attack on our Capitol will
not be tolerated and those
involved will be prosecuted
to the fullest extent of the
law.”
The Pentagon said about
1,100 D.C. National Guard
members were being mobi-
lized to help support law
enforcement at the Capitol.
Senators were being
evacuated. Some House
lawmakers tweeted they
were sheltering in place in
their offi ces.
U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden,
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley
and U.S. Rep. Suzanne
Bonamici, all Oregon Dem-
ocrats, said they were safe
on Wednesday after the
Trump supporters stormed
the Capitol.
In a statement, Wyden
said, “What’s happening
today in our nation’s Capitol
is a direct assault on democ-
racy, a riot by insurrection-
ists that caps off four years
of Donald Trump fanning
the fl ames of fanaticism.
Every Republican lawmaker
who supported his efforts to
overturn a legitimate elec-
tion shares responsibility for
the violence at the heart of
Julio Cortez/AP Photo
Supporters of President Donald Trump clash with police outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday.
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Andrew Harnik/AP Photo
People shelter in the House gallery as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the Capitol.
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J. Scott Applewhite/AP photo
Police with guns drawn watch as protesters try to break into the House Chamber at the Capitol.
‘THE VOTERS, THE COURTS AND
THE STATES ALL HAVE SPOKEN.’
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
our democracy.
“All Americans must
be able to elect House and
Senate members safe in
the knowledge that their
views will be represented
in civil debate here in Con-
gress without mob rule ever
squelching that discussion.”
Demonstrators
fought
with Capitol Police and
then forced their way into
the building, not long after
a huge rally near the White
House during which Trump
egged them on to march to
Capitol Hill.
Lawmakers had con-
vened for an extraordinary
joint session to confi rm the
Electoral College results.
Though fellow Republi-
cans were behind the chal-
lenge to Biden’s 306-232
Electoral College victory,
Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell sought to
lower tensions and argued
against it. He warned the
country “cannot keep drift-
ing apart into two separate
tribes” with “separate facts.”
McConnell
declared,
“The voters, the courts and
the states all have spoken.”
But other Republicans,
including House GOP lead-
ers among Trump’s allies,
were acting out the pleas
of supporters at his huge
Wednesday rally up Penn-
sylvania Avenue outside the
White House to “fi ght for
Trump.”
“We have to fi x this,” said
Rep. Steve Scalise, of Loui-
siana, the GOP whip.
The last-gasp effort is all
but certain to fail, defeated
by bipartisan majorities in
Congress prepared to accept
the November results. Biden
is to be inaugurated Jan. 20.
Still, Trump vowed he
would “never concede” and
urged the massive crowd to
march to the Capitol where
hundreds had already gath-
ered under tight security.
“We will never give up,”
Trump told his noontime
rally.
Pence
was
closely
watched as he stepped onto
the dais to preside over the
joint session in the House
chamber.
Pence has a largely cer-
emonial role, opening the
sealed envelopes from the
states after they are carried
in mahogany boxes used
for the occasion, and read-
ing the results aloud. But
he was under growing pres-
sure from Trump to overturn
the will of the voters and
tip the results in the presi-
dent’s favor, 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 state-
ment shortly before presid-
ing, defi ed Trump, saying he
could not claim “unilateral
authority” to reject the elec-
toral votes that make Biden
president.
Despite Trump’s repeated
claims of voter fraud, elec-
tion offi cials and his own
former attorney general have
said there were no problems
on a scale that would change
the outcome. All the states
have certifi ed their results as
fair and accurate, by Repub-
lican and Democratic offi -
cials alike.
Arizona was the fi rst of
several states facing objec-
tions from the Republicans
as Congress took an alpha-
betical reading of the elec-
tion results. Then the chaos
erupted.
Associated Press writers
Andrew Taylor, Jill Colvin
and Kevin Freking in Wash-
ington and Bill Barrow in
Atlanta contributed to this
report.
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