Lawmakers take cover in US Capitol building, protesters enter halls

Tensions were already running high Wednesday when lawmakers gathered early afternoon for the constitutionally mandated counting of the Electoral College results, in which Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump, 306-232.

Despite pleas from Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, more than 150 Republican lawmakers planned to support objections to some of the results, though lacking evidence of fraud or wrongdoing in the election.

Trump spent the lead-up to the proceedings publicly hectoring Vice President Mike Pence, who had a largely ceremonial role in the proceedings, to aid the effort. He tweeted on Wednesday: “Do it Mike, this is a time for extreme courage!”

But Pence, in a statement shortly before presiding, defied Trump, saying he could not claim “unilateral authority” to reject the electoral votes that make Biden president.

Shortly after the first Republican objections, protesters fought past police and breached the Capitol building, shouting and waving Trump and American flags as they marched through the halls.

Lawmakers were told to duck under their seats for cover and put on gas masks after tear gas was used in the Capitol Rotunda. Some House lawmakers tweeted they were sheltering in place in their offices.

Democrat representative Scott Peters, of California, told reporters he was in the House chamber when rioters began storming it.

Security officers “made us all get down, you could see that they were fending off some sort of assault, it looked like. They had a piece of furniture up against the door, the door, the entry to the floor from the Rotunda, and they had guns pulled,” Peters said.

“And they just told us to take our pins off,” he added, referring to lapel pins members wear so Capitol Police can quickly identify them. Then the lawmakers were evacuated.

Staff members grabbed the boxes of Electoral College votes as the evacuation took place. Otherwise, said Democrat Senator Jeff Merkley, of Oregon,  the ballots likely would have been destroyed by the protesters.

Trump supporters posting on internet forums popular with far-right fringe elements celebrated the chaos. Messages posted on one turned from profane frustration over the content of Trump’s speech to glee when supporters stormed the building. At least one leading figure was livestreaming video from inside the Capitol during the siege.-AP