Tracking the events that began Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021, in Washington, D.C, when Congress convened to certify the Electoral College results in favor of President-elect Joe Biden and supporters of President Donald Trump broke into the U.S. Capitol Building.
Twitter bans President Donald Trump, citing risk of incitement
Twitter says it is banning President Donald Trump from its platform, citing “risk of further incitement of violence.”
The social media giant said Friday: “After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them — specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter — we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
Trump was locked out of his account on his preferred social medial platform for 12 hours earlier this week after a violent mob loyal to him stormed the U.S. Capitol to try to stop Congress from affirming President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Trump posted a video on Twitter calling them “very special” people and saying he loved them. Five people died, including a Capitol Police officer.
President Donald Trump says he will not attend Biden’s inauguration
President Donald Trump said Friday in a new tweet that he will not attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
“To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.”
Trump’s decision not to attend the Inauguration Day ceremony comes a day after he chose to concede the election.
- He said in a video message that “new administration will be inaugurated on Jan. 20” and his “focus now turns to ensuring a smooth orderly and seamless transition of power.”
Former President George W. Bush said he will attend Biden’s inauguration, according to CNN. Meanwhile, former President Jimmy Carter will not attend.
- “President and Mrs. Bush look forward to returning to the Capitol for the swearing in of President Biden and Vice President Harris,” Ford said in a statement. “I believe this will be the eighth inauguration they’ve had the privilege of attending — President Trump’s being the most recent — and witnessing the peaceful transfer of power is a hallmark of our democracy that never gets old.”
President Trump concedes to Biden
President Donald Trump is conceding to President-elect Joe Biden and condemning the violent supporters who stormed the nation’s Capitol on Wednesday.
In a new video message, Trump says that now that Congress has certified the results, the “new administration will be inaugurated on Jan. 20” and his “focus now turns to ensuring a smooth orderly and seamless transition of power.”
He is also speaking out against the violence, calling it a “heinous attack” that left him “outraged by the violence lawlessness and mayhem.”
Trump did not address his role in inciting the violence. But he is telling his supporters that, while he knows they are “disappointed,” he wants them to know “our incredible journey is only just beginning.”
Joe Biden’s victory certified after hours of violence and debate
At 3:41 a.m. EST Thursday, Congress formally validated Joe Biden’s presidential election victory on a day in Washington that saw a time-honored ceremony become a nightmare.
The U.S. Capitol locked down Wednesday with lawmakers inside as violent clashes broke out between supporters of President Donald Trump and police.
The House and Senate certified the Democrat’s electoral vote win after a violent throng of pro-Trump rioters spent hours Wednesday running rampant through the Capitol. A woman was fatally shot, windows were bashed and shaken lawmakers and aides were forced to flee the building, shielded by Capitol Police.
More than six hours after the violence erupted, lawmakers resumed their session.
Thirteen Republican senators and dozens of GOP representatives had planned to force debate and votes on perhaps six different states’ votes.
The assault on the Capitol made some Republicans squeamish about trying to overturn Biden’s win, and challenges were lodged only against Arizona and Pennsylvania. Both efforts lost overwhelmingly.
Biden defeated Trump by 306-232 electoral votes and will be inaugurated Jan. 20.
Tempers flare as House debates Pennsylvania electoral vote
A small group of House lawmakers came close to physically fighting early Thursday morning as the congressional count of electoral votes stretched into the wee hours and a Pennsylvania Democrat charged that Republicans had been telling “lies” about his state’s votes.
Rep. Morgan Griffiths, R-Va., objected after Rep. Conor Lamb, D-Pa., said a breach of the Capitol by an angry mob earlier in the day was “inspired by lies, the same lies you are hearing in this room tonight.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi shot down the objection, but a few minutes later Republicans and Democrats streamed to the middle aisle, with around a dozen lawmakers getting close to each other and arguing. But the group quickly broke up when Pelosi called for order on the floor.
Senate, House reject challenge to Biden in several states
The House rejected an objection to President-elect Joe Biden’s win in Arizona, joining the Senate in upholding the results of the election there.
The objection failed 303-121 on Wednesday night, with only Republicans voting in support.
Later in the evening, Republicans also objected to the results in Pennsylvania, which was then voted down by both chambers. Similar objections to electoral votes in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin also fizzled, the AP reported.
Sen. Majority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called the events of the day a “failed insurrection.”
“We’ve never been deterred before, and will be not deterred today,” he said. “They tried to disrupt our democracy. They failed. ...
“Now we’re going to finish exactly what we started.”
Romney calls storming of U.S. Capitol an ‘insurrection’ incited by Trump
Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney said in a statement Wednesday night that President Donald Trump “deliberately misinformed” presidential supports for months and had stirred those supporters to action Wednesday.
- “What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the President of the United States. Those who choose to continue to support his dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate, democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy. They will be remembered for their role in this shameful episode in American history. That will be their legacy.”
- “The objectors have claimed they are doing so on behalf of the voters. Have an audit, they say, to satisfy the many people who believe that the election was stolen. Please! No Congressional led audit will ever convince those voters, particularly when the president will continue to claim that the election was stolen.”
- “The best way we can show respect for the voters who are upset is by telling them the truth. That is the burden, and the duty, of leadership.”
- “We must not be intimidated or prevented from fulfilling our constitutional duty. We must continue with the count of electoral college votes.”
- “I urge my colleagues to move forward with completing the electoral count, to refrain from further objections, and to unanimously affirm the legitimacy of the presidential election.”
Biden calls on Trump to ‘step up’ and ‘end this siege’ at U.S. Capitol
Biden spoke from Wilmington, Delaware, about the ongoing protests and lockdown at the Capitol. He called on Trump “to go on national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege.” Biden ended his remarks calling on Trump to “step up.”
- “I call on this mob to pull back and let the work of democracy to go forward.”
- “The words of a president matter, no matter how good or bad that president is. At their best, the words of a president can inspire. At their worst, they can incite.”
- “It’s chaos. It borders on sedition. And it must end — now.”
- “The scenes at the Capitol do not reflect the true America.”
- “Today’s a reminder, a painful one, that democracy is fragile and that to pursue it requires people of goodwill, leaders with the courage to stand up.”
- “There has never been anything we cannot do when we do it together. And this God awful display today is bringing home to every Democrat, Republican or independent in the nation that we must step up. This is the United States of America.”
Trump tells supporters to ‘go home’ and ‘we have to have law and order’
Trump, standing outside the White House, told protesters they “had to go home now,” in a minutelong video posted to Twitter. The president continued to insist incorrectly that the election was “stolen,” but that it was now time for “peace.”
- “I know your pain, I know you’re hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us. It was a landslide election, and everyone knows it, especially the other side.”
- “You have to go home now. We have to have peace. We have to have law and order. We have to respect our great people in law and order. We don’t want anyone hurt.”
- “This was a fraudulent election, but we can’t play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace.”
- “Go home. We love you. You’re very special.”
Twitter first labeled Trump’s video, saying it can’t be replied to, retweeted or liked due to a risk of violence, but later removed the tweet entirely.
What happened
- Four people died, including one woman who was fatally shot in the chest at the Capitol, and three others who died in “medical emergencies,” according to Washington, D.C., Police Chief Robert Contee
- U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was evacuated, CNN reports.
- Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said, according to The New York Times: “This is what the president has caused today, this insurrection.”
Twitter said three tweets from President Trump have been removed Wednesday. His account “will be locked for 12 hours following the removal of these Tweets. If the Tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked.”
- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., released a joint statement “calling on President Trump to demand that all protesters leave the U.S. Capitol and Capitol grounds immediately.”
- Oregon Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley shared a photo of boxes of state Electoral College ballots sitting on a table with the caption, “Electoral college ballots rescued from the Senate floor. If our capable floor staff hadn’t grabbed them, they would have been burned by the mob.”
- Trump called for law and order: “I am asking for everyone at the U.S. Capitol to remain peaceful. No violence! Remember, WE are the Party of Law & Order — respect the Law and our great men and women in Blue. Thank you!”
- Author and investigative journalist Vicky Ward tweeted: “‘This is what you’ve gotten, guys,’ Sen. Mitt Romney yelled as the mayhem unfolded in the Senate chamber, apparently addressing his colleagues who were leading the charge to press Mr. Trump’s false claims of a stolen election.” Ward also said that Pence was “rushed out of the Senate chamber by security.”
- Huffington Post politics reporter Igor Bobic tweeted a video of protesters hoisting a Trump flag on scaffolding outside the Capitol building.
- “Several people got on the scaffolding outside the Senate, took it to second floor, which looked like the area where McConnell’s office is located, and started banging on windows,” Bobic wrote.
- Washington’s mayor announced an overnight curfew for the District of Columbia from 6 p.m. Wednesday night through 6 a.m. Thursday morning.
- The skirmishes occurred in the very spot where president-elect Biden will be inaugurated in just two weeks.
- Protesters tore down metal barricades at the bottom of the Capitol’s steps and were met by officers in riot gear.
- Some tried to push past the officers who held shields.
- Officers could be seen firing pepper spray into the crowd to keep them back.
- Some in the crowd were shouting “traitors” as officers tried to keep them back.
- A suspicious package was also reported in the area, Capitol Police said.
Reaction
- Utah Sen. Mike Lee tweeted: “Congress was elected to govern. We need to get back on the floor and gavel in the Senate as soon as possible.”
Utah Republican Congressman Burgess Owens tweeted that he was safe and that he was “deeply saddened by what is happening right now. Americans are better than this. Senseless violence is NEVER okay. We have to do better.”
- Utah Rep. John Curtis, a Republican, tweeted a video that he was safe inside the Capital and “appealed to all the good people of this country to dial it down ... it’s not who we are, we’re better than this.”
- Former President Barack Obama issued a statement: “History will rightly remember today’s violence at the Capitol, incited by a sitting president who has continued to baselessly lie about the outcome of a lawful election, as a moment of great dishonor and shame for our nation.”
- Former President George W. Bush said in a statement, ‘This is how election results are disputed in a banana republic — not our democratic republic.” The Capitol “was undertaken by people whose passions have been inflamed by falsehoods and false hopes. Insurrection could do grave damage to our nation and reputation,” he continued.
- Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa: “Today’s violent attack on the U.S. Capitol was an attack on American democracy itself. I condemn today’s violence in the strongest terms & perpetrators deserve to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
- Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.: “Those who made this attack on our government need to be identified and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
Context
The skirmishes came just shortly after Trump addressed thousands of his supporters at a rally near the White House on Wednesday ahead of Congress’ vote.
- “We will not let them silence your voices,” Trump told the protesters, who had lined up before sunrise to get a prime position to hear the president.
- Trump later tweeted a call to “support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement” and to “Stay peaceful!”
Photos of the moment
Note: The Associated Press contributed to this report.