Storming of the United States Capitol

On January 6, 2021, at the behest of United States President Donald Trump, his supporters stormed the United States Capitol, breaching security and occupying parts of the building for several hours. The event disrupted a joint session of Congress to count the vote of the Electoral College and certify Joe Biden's victory in the 2020 presidential election.

On January 5 and 6, thousands of Trump supporters gathered in Washington, D.C. to protest against the election results, which Trump had been falsely claiming were due to electoral fraud. Trump, his supporters, and allies were demanding that Vice President Mike Pence and Congress reject Biden's victory.  On the morning of January 6, protesters assembled at the "Save America" rally on the Ellipse, where President Trump, Donald Trump Jr., and Rudy Giuliani spoke. Trump encouraged his supporters to "fight like hell" for Republicans to "take back our country", and asked his supporters to march to the U.S. Capitol. Giuliani called for them to engage in "a trial by combat", and Trump Jr. used similar language to advocate "total war" and threatening fellow Republicans in Congress “we’re coming for you” if they didn’t back the undoing of his father’s electoral defeat.

The demonstration culminated in a violent attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters.  Congress was in session at the time, conducting the Electoral College vote count and debating the results of the vote. As the rioters entered the Capitol, breaking through windows and soon after through the doors, Capitol security evacuated the Senate and House of Representatives chambers. Several buildings in the Capitol complex were evacuated, and all buildings in the complex were subsequently locked down. Rioters broke past security to occupy the evacuated Senate chamber while guards drew handguns to prevent entry to the evacuated House floor. The evacuated office of the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was occupied.

A woman was shot by law enforcement officers as she attempted to enter the House chamber through a broken window and later died of her injuries; three others died as a result of medical emergencies throughout the day. Three improvised explosive devices were reported to have been found: one on Capitol grounds, and one each at the Republican National Committee and Democratic National Committee offices.

Trump reacted slowly to the storming, eventually praising the rioters while telling them to "go home in peace"; he described the rioters as being "great patriots" and "very special", expressed "love" for them, and attributed the insurrection to a "stolen election".  As a result, Twitter temporarily locked Trump's account and removed three of his tweets for violations of its civic integrity policy, while Facebook banned him indefinitely after initially taking similar temporary measures. The crowd was dispersed out of the U.S. Capitol later that evening. The process to certify Electoral College results resumed shortly after 8:00 p.m. (EST) and continued to its conclusion the following morning.

These events transpired after weeks of numerous failed attempts by Trump and his supporters to overturn the election results.  The riots and storming of the Capitol were described as insurrection, sedition, and domestic terrorism.  Some news outlets labeled the act as an attempted coup d'état by Trump. The incident was the first time the Capitol had been overrun since the 1814 burning of Washington by the British during the War of 1812.  Under pressure from his own administration, Trump reluctantly committed to an "orderly transition" of power in a statement after the violence.

The events prompted widespread condemnation by political and corporate leaders across the country. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called the storming of the Capitol a "failed insurrection."  Twitter and Facebook responded by locking Trump's accounts and removing posts related to the incident. On January 7, 2021, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called on vice president Mike Pence to formally invoke the 25th amendment, which would prevent Trump from exercising the powers of the presidency. The two Democratic congressional leaders also threatened to impeach Trump for a second time if Pence decides not to take any action.

                 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_storming_of_the_United_States_Capitol

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The Atlantic on the mob attacking the Capitol:   https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/republicans-meet-their-monster/ar-BB1cxker?ocid=msedgdhp

Shrill radio host Rush Limbaugh, the uncrowned prince of theocracy, supports more violence during his Thursday broadcast: Limbaugh dismisses calls to end violence after mob hits Capitol (msn.com)