Congress reconvened Wednesday after a violent pro-Trump mob breached the U.S. Capitol, interrupting a joint session to count the Electoral College votes in President-elect Joe Biden’s win.
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“As we reconvene in this chamber, the world will again witness the resilience and strength of our democracy, for even in the wake of unprecedented violence and vandalism at this Capitol, the elected representatives of the people of the United States have assembled again on the very same day to support and defend the constitution of the United States,” Vice President Mike Pence, who was presiding over the Senate, told the lawmakers who had earlier been evacuated with gas masks.
Counting electoral votes is a necessary and usually routine step in the presidential election process but one that some Republicans intended to challenge this year by objecting to results in specific states. Trump supporters, including members of the extremist group The Proud Boys, also traveled to the nation’s capital to protest Biden’s win, echoing the president’s false and unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud.
After Trump addressed protesters on the national mall, they marched to the Capitol and charged the halls of the building, forcing evacuations of lawmakers, Congressional staff and journalists covering the proceedings. Police arrested 13 people and one woman was shot and killed in the violence.
Once the area was cleared by law enforcement officials, proceedings resumed, with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell telling members the Senate will not be intimidated and kept out of its chamber by “thugs, mobs or threats.”
“The United States and the United States Congress have faced down much greater threats than the unhinged crowd we saw today,” he said. “They tried to disrupt our democracy, they failed.”
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