![]() ![]() In the aftermath of the siege, several Republicans announced they would drop their objections to the election, including Sen. He tweeted, “Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!”īut Pence, in a statement shortly before presiding, defied Trump, saying he could not claim “unilateral authority” to reject the electoral votes that make Biden president. Trump spent the lead-up to the proceedings publicly hectoring Pence, who had a largely ceremonial role, to aid the effort to throw out the results. Despite pleas from McConnell, more than 150 GOP lawmakers planned to support objections to some of the results, though lacking evidence of fraud or wrongdoing in the election. Tensions were already running high when lawmakers gathered early Wednesday afternoon for the constitutionally mandated counting of the Electoral College results, in which Biden defeated Trump, 306-232. But Wednesday’s events were particularly astounding both because they unfolded at least initially with the implicit blessing of the president and because of the underlying goal of overturning the results of a free and fair presidential election. The domed Capitol building has for centuries been the scene of protests and occasional violence. Bush said he watched the events in “disbelief and dismay.” Hours later, Twitter for the first time time locked Trump’s account, demanded that he remove tweets excusing violence and threatened “permanent suspension.”Ī somber President-elect Biden, two weeks away from being inaugurated, said American democracy was “under unprecedented assault, ” a sentiment echoed by many in Congress, including some Republicans. ![]() At the urging of his staff, he reluctantly issued a pair of tweets and a taped video telling his supporters it was time to “go home in peace” - yet he still said he backed their cause. He spent much of the afternoon in his private dining room off the Oval Office watching scenes of the violence on television. The president gave his supporters a boost into action Wednesday morning at a rally outside the White House, where he urged them to march to the Capitol. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress would show the world “what America is made of” with the outcome. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said the “failed insurrection” underscored lawmakers’ duty to finish the count. Pence reopened the Senate and directly addressed the demonstrators: “You did not win.” Together, the protests and the GOP election objections amounted to an almost unthinkable challenge to American democracy and exposed the depths of the divisions that have coursed through the country in recent years.Ĭongress reconvened in the evening, with lawmakers decrying the protests that defaced the Capitol and vowing to finish confirming the Electoral College vote for Biden’s election, even if it took all night. Some Republican lawmakers were in the midst of raising objections to the results on his behalf when the proceedings were abruptly halted by the mob.
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