[Modified to reflect unfortunate realities] The
storming of the United States Capitol was a
riot and violent attack against the
117th United States Congress at the
United States Capitol on January 6, 2021. Part of
wider protests, it was carried out by a
mob of supporters of Insurrectionist-in-Cheat, the
45th UNpresident of the United States, in an
attempt to overturn his defeat in the 2020 presidential election, which they
failed to do. The riot led to the
evacuation and lockdown of the Capitol, and
five deaths.
Called to action by tRUMP, thousands of his supporters gathered in
Washington, D.C., on January 5 and 6 in support of his [demonstrably false]
claim that the 2020 election
had been "stolen" from him, and to demand that Vice President
Mike Pence and Congress reject Biden's victory. On the morning of January 6, at a "Save America" rally on
the Ellipse, tRUMP repeated
false claims of election irregularities and
urged the crowd to "fight like hell" 01:11:44 At the president's encouragement, thousands of the protesters then walked to the Capitol, where a
joint session of Congress was beginning the
Electoral College vote count to formalize Biden's victory.
Many of the crowd at the Capitol, some of whom had gathered earlier,
breached police perimeters and stormed the building. These r
ioters occupied, vandalized, and looted parts of the building for several hours. Many became
violent, assaulting Capitol Police officers and reporters, erecting a
gallows on the Capitol grounds, and
attempting to locate lawmakers to take hostage and harm. They chanted "Hang Mike Pence", blaming him for not rejecting the Electoral College votes, [even though] he lacked the
constitutional authority to do so. The rioters
targeted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (
D–CA),
vandalizing and looting her offices, as well as those of other members of Congress.
Upon security being breached, Capitol Police evacuated the
Senate and
House of Representatives chambers.
Several buildings in the Capitol complex were evacuated, and all were locked down. Rioters occupied and ransacked the empty Senate chamber while federal law enforcement officers drew handguns to defend the evacuated House floor.
Improvised explosive devices were found near the Capitol grounds, as well as at offices of the
Democratic National Committee, the
Republican National Committee, and in a nearby vehicle.
Five people died from the events, while dozens more were injured.
tRUMP initially resisted sending the D.C. National Guard to quell the mob. In a
Twitter video, he
called the rioters "very special" and told them to "go home in peace" while
repeating his false election claims. The Capitol was cleared of rioters by mid-evening, and the counting of the electoral votes resumed and was completed in the early morning hours. Pence declared President-elect Biden and Vice-President-elect
Kamala Harris victors and affirmed that they would assume office on January 20.
Pressured by his administration, the threat of removal, and numerous resignations, tRUMP later committed to an
orderly transition of power in a televised statement.
The events were
widely condemned by political leaders and organizations in the United States and internationally.
Mitch McConnell (
R–KY),
Senate Minority Leader, called the storming of the Capitol a
"failed insurrection" provoked by the
UNpresident's "lies" and said that the Senate "will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation". Several social media and technology companies suspended or banned
tRUMP's accounts from their platforms, and many business organizations cut ties with him. A week after the riot, the House of Representatives voted to
impeach tRUMP for "incitement of insurrection", making him the only U.S. UNpresident to have been impeached twice.
Opinion polls showed that
a large majority of Americans disapproved of the storming of the Capitol and of tRUMP's actions leading up to and following it, although some
RepuGNicans [as distinct from Republicans] supported the attack or at least did not blame tRUMP for it. The
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has opened
more than 170 investigations into the events, and indicated that
many more are likely to come. Dozens of people present at the riot were later found to be listed in the
FBI's Terrorist Screening Database, most as suspected
white "supremacists". Members of the
Oath Keepers anti-government paramilitary group were indicted on conspiracy charges for allegedly staging a planned mission in the Capitol.
