Riot at the US Capitol - Plain News

Riot at the US Capitol

January 6, 2021

Background

On January 6, 2021, a joint session of Congress was scheduled to certify the Electoral College votes that were cast by electors on December 14, 2020. The certification of the votes by Congress is required by the United States Constitution to take place on this date approximately two weeks before the newlyelected (or re-elected) president is sworn in.

That the results of the 2020 election were hotly contested is a secret to no one. Several rallies protesting the election outcome were planned in Washington D.C. to coincide with the Congressional vote certification. The "Save America" rally scheduled to take place January 6th on the Ellipse (a 52acre park south of the White House) was one of these. The scheduled speakers included several members of Congress, Rudy Giuliani (a member of President Trump's legal team), Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, and President Donald Trump. The organizers of the rally obtained the required permits from the Department of the Interior, authorizing them to hold a rally on federal land. The rally was planned for weeks in advance, with President Trump announcing on December 18 his intentions to attend

Timeline of the attack

Attendees of the Save America rally began gathering at the Ellipse when the gates opened at 7:00 AM. No hard figures on numbers of attendees seem to be available, with news outlets reporting "thousands." Photos of the event appear to bear this out. The keynote speech by President Trump lasted approximately an hour, wrapping up at 1:11 PM. The speech was too long and covered too many topics to summarize here, but President Trump ended by encouraging the crowd to "walk down Pennsylvania Avenue" to the Capitol to "try and give them [the Republican Congress members] the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country." Previously, Rudy Giuliani had mentioned in his speech that it would take a "trial by combat" to settle the 2020 election.

When President Trump finished speaking, rally attendees began converging on the U.S. Capitol, joining other groups that were already gathered there. Posts on social media platforms advised demonstrators on the best routes to take to avoid police. Around 2:00 PM, the gathered demonstrators became violent, and the barricades guarded by the Capitol Police were breached minutes later. The police chief of Washington, D.C., says pro-Trump protesters deployed "chemical irritants" on police in order to get access to the Capitol building. The rioters then forced their way into the building, gaining access around 2:15 PM. The entire crowd of thousands did not enter the Capitol, with numerous leaving as soon as the situation began escalating. However, some hundreds did force their way into the building. Most walked into the Capitol on foot after breaking through the barricades, but a few used ropes and ladders and broke in windows to gain access.

Congress had convened at 1:00 PM to begin the vote certification process. By 2:00, when the demonstrators were forcing their way past the police barricades, the Senate and the House had divided to their separate chambers to debate some objections to the votes that had already been raised. When the rioters broke into the Capitol, security personnel quickly sealed off both chambers of Congress to prevent any unauthorized entry. Vice President Mike Pence (who was presiding over the Senate) was quickly hurried off and the session was adjourned. House Speaker Nancey Pelosi and Senate President Chuck Grassley (who follow Pence in the presidential line of succession) were also sequestered away.

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At 2:30, both houses of Congress were ordered to evacuate, and police began directing senators, representatives, staff, and reporters to secure locations within the Capitol complex. Members of the House were advised to put on emergency gas masks to avoid being affected by the tear gas which was being used in the halls outside the House chamber. Details about the "secure locations" to which the Congress members were taken are not plentiful, but it seems that most people were first evacuated to the Capitol Visitor Center, an underground complex that includes several secure rooms with blast doors. Senators and their staff were then taken to the Russell Senate Office Building, which is accessed from the Capitol by an underground tunnel. Members of the House were taken in other directions. Capitol Police then conducted a room-by-room search of the Capitol to find Congress members, staffers, and reporters who had been left behind.

The rioters rampaged through the Capitol, breaking into offices and stealing and vandalizing. Rioters forced their way into the Senate chamber, and some were photographed occupying the dais where Vice President Pence had been shortly before. The mob attempted to break into the House chamber as well, but security personnel barricaded the doors and successfully kept them at bay. Rioters entered the offices of various representatives, including that of Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House. Art was looted, tables flipped, pictures torn from walls, and glass windows were smashed, leaving the floors littered with glass and other debris. Rioters spent over three hours in the Capitol before the last ones were removed.

Local authorities responded quickly when they realized that the Capitol had been mobbed. At 2:31, Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser declared a 6:00 PM curfew would go into effect in the city Wednesday evening. Virginia Governor Ralph Northam issued a curfew for nearby Alexandria and Arlington County. At 3:45, Vice President Pence, Congressional leaders, and Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller agreed to deploy the entire D.C. National Guard contingent of 1,100 as well as accept offers from the governors of Virginia and Maryland to send National Guard members and State Police units from those states. Around 5:00, the New Jersey governor announced that New Jersey State Police were being deployed at the request of D.C. officials, and the New Jersey National Guard was on standby. At 5:40, Capitol officials announced that the Capitol Complex had been cleared of attackers and secured. During the confrontations inside the Capitol, police fatally shot a woman. Three other rioters died of "medical emergencies," and a police officer died from injuries sustained in the attack. Dozens more rioters and police officers were injured.

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Demonstrators gathered outside the U.S. Capitol

While the police and National Guard were clearing the Capitol of rioters, senators and representatives were following events closely and discussing whether to reconvene. At 6:45 PM, four hours after fleeing the Capitol, the decision was reached that Congress would convene again and the votes would be confirmed. At 8:00 PM, both houses resumed debate over the Electoral votes. Vice President Pence reopened the Senate session by condemning the violence "in the strongest possible terms" and informing the rioters, "You did not win. Violence never wins." After eight hours of further debate and voting, lawmakers confirmed Biden as the President-elect of the United States, just before 4:00 AM on January 7th.

Aftermath

It took some time for order to be completely restored on the National Mall. Although the Capitol was secured at 5:40, confrontations between protestors and law enforcement continued. Hundreds of protestors violated the D.C. curfew by staying out past 6:00. Mayor Bowser subsequently announced that the 6:00 PM curfew would remain in place for the district for two weeks until the inauguration is past and presidential power has been transferred to the Biden administration.

Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy announced on Thursday that a seven-foot fence would be erected around the entire Capitol, which will remain in place for at least 30 days. McCarthy also said that 6,200 members of the National Guard will be deployed to the D.C. area by this weekend, with the D.C. force being supplemented by contingents from Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and New York.

Law enforcement authorities have opened a criminal investigation into the attack and have enlisted hundreds of investigators to identify and arrest the perpetrators. At least 15 people have been charged in federal court for crimes connected to the attack, with charges including theft of government property and firearms violations. Sixty-eight others were arrested for violating curfew Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Michael Sherwin says the charges are just the beginning of the potentially months-long investigation to bring the perpetrators to justice. Any rioters that entered the Capitol could face several federal charges, including destruction of property, threatening members of Congress, and sedition (the act of opposing government authority by

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force). Investigators have released photos of dozens of individuals who entered the Capitol and are requesting the public's help in identifying them.

One individual who has been charged with entering a restricted area of the Capitol is a West Virginia state lawmaker. State Delegate Derrick Evans live-streamed himself entering the Capitol with other trespassers on Wednesday. He has since been arrested by the FBI. Legislators from at least seven other states traveled to Washington D.C. to demonstrate on Wednesday, but at least some left when the situation began escalating, and it is not known that any of them joined in the Capitol storming.

Police have identified the four protestors that died during the attack on the Capitol. The woman fatally shot by police was an Air Force veteran from San Diego. Ashli Babbit (35) identified herself as a Libertarian and a supporter of the Second Amendment. Her recent social media history shows her support of the QAnon theory, the idea that President Trump has been fighting deep state enemies and a group of Satan-worshipping cannibals operating as a human-trafficking ring. Her Twitter account promoted President Trump's political agenda and she called on Vice-president Pence to reject the Electoral College votes. She had recently retweeted messages in support of Trump and from those coming to Washington for Wednesday's rally. On Tuesday she wrote: "Nothing will stop us....they can try and try and try but the storm is here and it is descending upon DC in less than 24 hours....dark to light!". She was shot while attempting to climb through the broken window of a barricaded door inside the Capitol. The other three protestor fatalities resulted from medical emergencies. Benjamin Phillips (50) of Bloomsburg, PA, died of a stroke at an unknown point during the day. Kevin Greeson (55) of Athens, AL, died of a heart attack, also at an unknown point in events. Roseanna Boyland (34) of Kennesaw, GA, died of unspecified causes during the riots. The Capitol Police officer who died was Brian Sicknick (42), a twelve-year veteran of the force. Sicknick was reportedly hit on the head with a fire extinguisher while engaging with rioters and collapsed soon after returning to his division. He was removed from life support and died Thursday evening.

Police preparedness

The fact that the attackers were able to make it into the Capitol has raised some questions about why security was not stronger. Posts on certain far-right websites had suggested a potential attack on the Capitol weeks previous, so why weren't police more prepared? Investigations will certainly pry into this question, but it may be some time before it is fully answered.

The Capitol Police force has approximately 1,700 officers. That is significant, but not an overwhelming number when it comes to controlling a violent crowd of thousands. It was also reported that some officers were off work because of exposure to or infection from COVID-19. Capitol Police officials said they were prepared for large protests, but they were caught off guard by what transpired. They apparently expected these protests to be similar to others held in the city over the past months. Many of the officers were wearing regular patrol gear at the time of the attack instead of the riot gear typically used to confront violent crowds. Mayor Bowser said that it was 1:00 PM on Wednesday when "things were pretty bad" before the Capitol Police requested help from the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. Police also allowed many of the rioters to leave the Capitol without arrest, something authorities say will cause the prosecution of the criminals to take longer than it otherwise would have.

The three top Capitol security officials are all resigning at the request of Congressional leaders. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he accepted the resignation of Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Michael Stenger late Thursday. Incoming Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer had earlier said he

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would fire Stenger if he had not resigned already. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi reported that House Sergeant-at-Arms Paul Irving would be submitting his resignation as well. U.S. Capitol Police Chief Steve Sund resigned Thursday after multiple Congress members called for his removal. Ahead of Sund's resignation, the U.S. Capitol Police union had also issued a statement calling for a change in agency leadership.

Objections to the electoral votes

Prior to Congress meeting, numerous republican congress members had stated their intention to object to the Electoral votes from as many as five states because of irregularities in the voting process in those states. Fourteen senators and over one hundred representatives were originally going to participate in the movement. At the time of the attack, Arizona's electoral votes had already been challenged and Congress had divided to debate the issue separately.

While the attack was ongoing and the senators were in safety elsewhere, Senator Ted Cruz led the senators with intention to contest the results into a separate room to discuss whether to go ahead with their challenge. There are not reports on that meeting, but approximately half of the previouslydissenting senators ended up voting in favor of accepting all electoral votes. One of the senators most outspoken about election fraud--Kelly Loeffler from Georgia--had intended to contest her state's election results but said she could no longer "in good conscience" do so. "The violence, the lawlessness and siege of the halls of Congress are abhorrent and stand as a direct attack on the very institution my objection was intended to protect," she said.

Most republicans in the House went through with their objections and voted against accepting the electoral votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania. The Senate rejected the Arizona vote challenge 93-6 and the House rejected it 303-121. The Pennsylvania vote challenge was rejected 92-7 in the Senate and 282-138 in the House. House members also objected to the votes from Georgia, Michigan, and Nevada, but no senators joined them in their objections, thereby preventing debate. Congress confirmed the outcome of the 2020 election by giving 306 electoral votes to Biden and 232 to Trump.

Resignations of Trump administration officials

Numerous members of the Trump administration have already resigned in the wake of the Capitol violence. Especially of note are the resignation of two Cabinet members. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao (also wife of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell) submitted her resignation on Thursday, saying that the violence "has deeply troubled me in a way I simply cannot set aside." Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has also resigned. DeVos has been one of Trump's steadiest allies; but, in resigning, she told the President that "there is no mistaking the impact your rhetoric had on the situation, and it is the inflection point for me."

Other lower-ranking staff that are resigning include Stephanie Grisham (chief of staff to first lady Melania Trump), Sarah Matthews (deputy press secretary), Matthew Pottinger (deputy national security adviser), Ryan Tully (member of the National Security Council), and Mick Mulvaney (special envoy to Northern Ireland).

Reaction to President Trump

President Trump has received extensive criticism for his actions and reactions relating to the violence. Some have portrayed him as inciting the attack on the Capitol; but that, like many other things, is open to personal interpretation. It is true that he encouraged attendees of the Save America Rally to march

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