Trump Supporters Force Lockdown of Capitol Building, Shots Fired

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, a Massachusetts Democrat, called for Trump’s immediate impeachment on Twitter, as soon as the body reconvened. Representative Ilhan Omar,  a Michigan Democrat, also said she would begin drafting articles of impeachment as the sun set on the defiled Capitol. 

Green — who leads Texas Democrats’ delegation in the House — wrote while sheltering in place at the Capitol that while he hadn’t reviewed the articles, the president’s behavior was impeachable. 

“While I will make a decision upon reviewing the finalized text of the articles, I have consistently held that Donald J. Trump is unfit to be president and has engaged in impeachable behavior,” he said. 

GOP House Leader Kevin McCarthy appears to be safe, tweeting his gratitude to Capitol Police who scrambled to shut down the president’s supporters. 

A request for comment to his office went unanswered Wednesday night. 

“Protesters have a Constitutionally-protected right to be heard, but I urge them to remain peaceful,” the California Republican wrote.

Mayor Muriel Bowser instituted a curfew in the district, urging residents to return to their homes by 6 p.m. Nearby Arlington and Alexandria, just across the Potomac, were also placed under lockdown after local police reported that all 13 individuals initially arrested in Washington hailed from the suburban alcove. 

Congressional leadership vowed to return as the damage unfolded, and NBC in particular quoted a House Democrat who sounded undeterred. 

“Yep. We’re going back. Fuck these assholes,” the lawmaker said.

Trump meanwhile, after news of the woman’s death was less than a half hour old, was still divisive. 

“These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously & viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly & unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love & in peace. Remember this day forever!” he tweeted.

Attempting to throw another wrench in the mix, a dozen Republicans who have been mounting objections on Trump's behalf in Congress invited the Supreme Court on Wednesday to block Biden’s certification by Vice President Mike Pence.

Represented by attorney Sidney Powell and others, Congressman Louie Gohmert said he “faces imminent threat of injury that the Respondent [Pence] will follow the unlawful Electoral Count Act and, in so doing, eviscerate Rep. Gohmert’s constitutional right and duty to vote for President under the Twelfth Amendment.”

“With injuries directly caused by a defendant, plaintiffs can show an injury in fact with ‘little question’ of causation or redressability,” the emergency application states. “Although the Respondent did not cause the underlying election fraud, the respondent nonetheless will directly cause Rep. Gohmert’s injury.”

Early Wednesday morning before the lockdown, throngs of Trump devotees donning the campaign’s iconic red caps and Trump-branded ephemera moved in large groups through downtown Washington. Unmasked, despite the mounting devastation of the novel coronavirus, they hoisted yellow Gadsden flags heralding “Don’t Tread on Me” or dark blue banners bearing Trump’s name. 

The mob eventually breached the building by ramming a portion of a U.S. Capitol door, which shattered glass and gained them entry to where lawmakers were debating.

Representative Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, said on Twitter as the chaos unfolded: “Violent Trump supporters have stormed the Capitol. We’re on lockdown right now in the Chamber. Blood will be on the hands of those perpetrating the big lie that Trump won.”

Before the Senate called a temporary recess to its debate, objections were just getting underway.

“We’re debating a step that has never been taken in American history: Whether Congress should overrule the voters and overturn a presidential election,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, said from the well of the Senate floor, at times visibly emotional.

As he gave his stamp of approval on the impending peaceful transition of power from Trump to Biden on Jan. 20, McConnell called his vote during Wednesday’s session “the most important vote I’ve ever cast" over his 36 years serving in the Senate.

Protesters used what appeared to be a small cart to scaffold the Capitol’s facade, adjacent to what appeared to be the Senate majority leader’s office, to bang on the windows of the room.

Biden spoke briefly from Wilmington, Delaware, about the scenes unfolding at the Capitol, condemning the “God-awful display,” as he called it, as acts of “insurrection.”

“Through war and strife, America’s endured much, and we will endure here and we will prevail again and we will prevail now,” Biden said. “The work of the moment and the work of the next four years must be the restoration of Democracy, of decency, honor, respect, the rule of law.” 

(AP photos)

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Email *

Submit