Hundreds of pro-Trump demonstraors gather outside the California Capitol building in Sacramento (AP Photo/Adam Beam)US Capitol Hill Siege LIVE Updates: Under heavy security following the storming of Trump supporters to the Capitol, the US Congress has certified the victory of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in the November 3 election. Meanwhile, Facebook has extended its ban on Trump’s use of Facebook account through inauguration, saying the risk of his posts is ‘too great.’ Trump had earlier said the transfer of power on January 20 would be ‘orderly’ even as he remained intact on his claim of election fraud.
The US House of Representatives and Senate had met in a rare joint session to begin considering the certification of Electoral College results, that show Democrat Joe Biden defeated Trump. It quickly became clear that objections from pro-Trump Republican lawmakers to Biden’s victory in battleground states would be rejected overwhelmingly, including by most Republicans. “To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today – you did not win,” Vice President Mike Pence, who presided over the session, said as it resumed. “Let’s get back to work,” he said, drawing applause.
At least four people died on the US Capitol grounds Wednesday and 52 people were arrested after the violence broke out. The US Capitol had to be locked down Wednesday with lawmakers inside after protesters tore down metal barricades at the bottom of the Capitol’s steps and were met by officers in riot gear. Some tried to push past the officers, who held shields, and the police could be seen firing pepper spray into the crowd to keep them back, even as the crowd shouted, “traitors”. The violence soon moved inside the Capitol building, with reports of firing at the premises.
Trump, who continues to insist he will not concede, had said at a rally of his supports on Wednesday afternoon in Washington, “We will never give up.” As the clashes broke out, Trump appealed for peace. “Please support our Capitol Police and Law Enforcement. They are truly on the side of our Country. Stay peaceful!” he tweeted. Biden, on the other hand, said the democracy in America was under an “unprecedented assault”.
Smoke fills the walkway outside the Senate Chamber as supporters of President Donald Trump are confronted by U.S. Capitol Police officers inside the Capitol, Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021 in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Four people died on the US Capitol grounds Wednesday and 52 people have been arrested, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert J. Contee said Wednesday evening, after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in an unprecedented effort to stop Congress from certifying President-elect Joe Biden’s election victory.
British Home Secretary Priti Patel on Thursday condemned the "awful" scenes of riots on the Capitol Hill in Washington DC and blamed US President Donald Trump for the violence that resulted in four deaths in clashes between protesters and American police.
The senior Cabinet minister told the BBC that it was the outgoing President's words that fuelled the violence and accused Trump of doing nothing "de-escalate that".
"His comments directly led to the violence, and so far he has failed to condemn that violence and that is completely wrong," said Patel.
"He basically has made a number of comments yesterday that helped to fuel that violence and he didn't actually do anything to de-escalate that whatsoever... what we've seen is completely unacceptable," she said.
Facebook has extended the block on US President Donald Trump's account indefinitely, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced. "We believe the risks of allowing the President to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great," he said in a post.
January 6, 2021: That seat from where the government of the people, for the people, by the people operated, was in the midst of certifying the victory of President-elect Joe Biden to fulfil its duty of carrying out the will of the people. Almost out of the blue, just like the tragedy that happened on September 11, 2001, America watched aghast as The Capitol was invaded (one of the terms used on national TV) by supporters of President Donald Trump, spurred on by his exhortations that the Presidential election had been stolen from American people. Law enforcement was overwhelmed, Vice President Mike Pence, Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris and Speaker Nancy Pelosi were whisked away to safe locations. Members of the Electoral College were taken into safekeeping and the members of the media were put under lockdown. The images one saw later on TV resembled a siege, and towards late evening Vice President Pence came on television to announce that The Capitol had been secured and the Electoral College would get back to its work.
Written by Sudipta Sarangi
Global Times, a media organisation affiliated to China’s ruling party, drew a parallel Thursday between the siege of Capitol Hill and the time protesters stormed the Hong Kong legislature building in 2019. It recalled how US Speaker Nancy Pelosi had referred to the Hong Kong protests as “a beautiful sight to behold”, and said “it remains yet to be seen whether she will say the same about the recent developments in Capitol Hill”.
Several social media users in China also responded to Thursday’s incident, calling it “karma”, “retribution” and “deserving”, reported Global Times. Social media in the country is heavily censored. Read more
Oil prices were steady on Thursday after hitting fresh 11-month highs on a fall in US stockpiles and in the wake of a pledge by Saudi Arabia to cut output by more than expected.
Brent crude was up 5 cents to $54.35 a barrel at 1231 GMT after touching $54.90, a fresh high not seen since before the first COVID-19 lockdowns in the West.
US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) was up 26 cents, or 0.5% to $50.89 after touching $51.28.
Wednesday’s storming of the US Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump appeared to have little impact, while a slight rise in global equities suggested investors believed President-elect Joe Biden would be empowered to spend more freely. (Reuters)
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis removed his red “Strong Czechia” hat inspired by US President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” cap from his social media accounts on Thursday after Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building.
Babis had professed support for Trump and told him on a 2019 White House visit he had “a similar plan to make the Czech Republic great again”.
Early on Thursday Babis changed his longtime Twitter profile photo from an image showing him wearing his red cap to one with him wearing a respirator mask with the Czech flag on it, in an allusion to efforts to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
“After the unprecedented attack on democracy in the United States, which I have unequivocally condemned, I deemed it fit to express my stance also by changing my profile photo,” he said in the statement, which echoed comments against the assault that he had posted earlier on Twitter. (Reuters)
The chaos in the US Capitol on Wednesday unfolded after President Donald Trump spent weeks whipping up his supporters with false allegations of fraud in the Nov. 3 election, culminating in a call to march to the building that represents US democracy.
Trump, who has refused to concede his loss to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, had urged his supporters multiple times to come to Washington for a rally on Wednesday, the day the US House of Representatives and Senate were scheduled to certify the results of the Electoral College.
“Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 Election,” Trump, a Republican, tweeted on Dec. 20. “Big protest in DC on January 6th. Be there, will be wild!”
They turned out in the thousands and heard the president urge them to march on the Capitol building to express their anger at the voting process and to pressure their elected officials to reject the results. “We’re going to walk down to the Capitol and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and Congressmen and women,” Trump told the crowd, speaking with the White House as a backdrop. (Reuters)
The bloody chaos inside the US Capitol on Wednesday came after the police force that protects the legislative complex was overrun by a mob of Trump supporters in what law enforcement officials called a catastrophic failure to prepare.
While events such as a presidential inauguration involve detailed security plans by numerous security agencies, far less planning went into protecting the joint session of Congress that convened on Wednesday to ratify the results of the 2020 presidential election, the officials said. That lapse came despite glaring warning signs of potential violence by hardline supporters of President Donald Trump, who are inflamed by Trump’s baseless claims of a stolen election and hope to block the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.
And security initially was handled almost entirely alone by the US Capitol Police, a 2,000-member force under the control of Congress and dedicated to protecting the 126-acre Capitol Grounds. For reasons that remained unclear as of early Thursday, other arms of the US federal government’s vast security apparatus did not arrive in force for hours as rioters besieged the seat of Congress. The Capitol is a short walk from where Trump in a speech railed against the election just before the riot began, calling the vote an “egregious assault on our democracy” and urging his support.
The counting of the electoral votes of the presidential election by Congress, normally a formality, was preceded by weeks of threats in social media that planned pro-Trump protests could descend into violence. Despite those rumblings of danger, the Capitol Police force did not request advance help to secure the building from other federal agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security, according to one senior official. And National Guard reinforcements, summoned by the city’s mayor, were not mobilized until more than an hour after protesters had first breached the barricades. In stark contrast, those agencies were aggressively deployed by the Trump administration during last summer’s police brutality protests in Washington and elsewhere in the United States. (Reuters)
President-elect Joe Biden has announced Merrick Garland as his pick for attorney general, saying the federal appeals court judge and three others he has selected for senior Justice Department positions will restore the independence of the agency and faith in the rule of law.
The four lawyers are to be introduced by Biden at an event Thursday afternoon in Wilmington, Delaware.
In picking Garland, Biden is turning to an experienced judge who held senior positions at the Justice Department decades ago, including as a supervisor of the prosecution of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
Garland’s nomination will force Senate Republicans to contend with someone they spurned four years ago refusing even to hold hearings when President Barack Obama nominated Garland for the Supreme Court. Biden is banking on Garland’s credentials and reputation for moderation to ensure his confirmation. (AP)
On Wednesday, in an unprecedented step, the two companies temporarily suspended Trump from posting to their platforms after a mob of his supporters stormed the house of Congress. It was the most aggressive action either company has yet taken against Trump, who more than a decade ago embraced the immediacy and scale of Twitter to rally loyalists, castigate enemies and spread false rumors.
Twitter locked Trump out of his account for 12 hours and said that future violations could result in a permanent suspension. The company required the removal of three of Trump’s tweets, including a short video in which he urged those supporters to “go home” while also repeating falsehoods about the integrity of the presidential election. Trump’s account deleted those posts, Twitter said; had they remained, Twitter had threatened to extend his suspension.
Facebook and Instagram, which Facebook owns, followed up in the evening, announcing that Trump wouldn’t be able to post for 24 hours following two violations of its policies. The White House did not immediately offer a response to the actions.
While some cheered the platforms’ actions, experts noted that the companies’ actions follow years of hemming and hawing on Trump and his supporters spreading dangerous misinformation and encouraging violence that have contributed to Wednesday’s violence. (AP)
US media houses tore into President Donald Trump, calling him a “menace” and “unfit to remain in office” following the attack on the Capitol by Trump’s supporters on Wednesday. Both print and electronic media held Trump directly responsible for inciting the mob and demanded that he be held accountable through impeachment proceedings or criminal prosecution.
The New York Times carried the headline ‘Trump incites mob’ on its front page. In an editorial titled ‘Trump is to blame for Capitol attack’, the newspaper said, “President Trump and his Republican enablers in Congress incited a violent attack Wednesday against the government they lead and the nation they profess to love. This cannot be allowed to stand.” Read more
The insurrection at the US Capitol was both stunning and predictable, the result of a Republican Party that has repeatedly enabled President Donald Trump's destructive behaviour. The party, which has been defined over the past four years by its loyalty to Trump, began recalibrating in the aftermath of Wednesday's chaos.
One of his closest allies in Congress, GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, said “enough is enough.” Another South Carolina Republican, Rep. Nancy Mace, said Trump's accomplishments in office “were wiped out today.” At least one senior White House staffer resigned, and more resignations were possible as the weight of the day's events settled in.
But for the party to move forward, it will need to grapple with the reality that Trump in fact lost to President-elect Joe Biden by more than 7 million votes and a 306-232 margin in the Electoral College.
Former Republican President George W Bush described the violent mob as “a sickening and heartbreaking sight." He declined to call out Trump or his allies, but the implication was clear when Bush said the siege “was undertaken by people whose passions have been inflamed by falsehoods and false hopes.”
Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, a top House Republican and the daughter of Bush's vice president, was much more direct in an interview on Fox News. “There's no question the president formed the mob. The president incited the mob," Cheney said. “He lit the flame.”
While their criticism was searing, Bush and Cheney were already among a smaller group of Republican officials willing to condemn Trump's most outrageous behaviour at times. The overwhelming majority of the GOP has been far more reserved, eager to keep Trump's fiery base on their side. (AP)
US President Donald Trump’s relentless efforts to reverse the results of the 2020 election took a dangerous turn Wednesday, when an armed and angry mob of his supporters stormed Capitol Hill and clashed with police just as Congress convened to validate Joe Biden’s presidential win.
A woman was fatally shot in the violence that ensued as pro-Trump protestors breached barricades and advanced into the halls of the Capitol building, smashing windows and brawled with police officers in what is widely being considered one of the worst security breaches in US history. Read more
The Capitol Building serves as the meeting place of the US Congress, housing the Senate (in north wing) and the House of Representatives (in south wing). It also includes the offices of congressional leadership and is used for ceremonies of national importance such as presidential inaugurations and the lying in state of eminent personalities. The building also houses a museum of American art and history and is a popular site among visitors.
Wednesday's attack on Capitol Hill is the first of this century. The Capitol Complex has come under attack several times in the past, most recently in 1983 when a group, identifying itself as the Armed Resistance Unit with Communist leanings, planted a bomb just outside the Senate in protest of the US military’s involvement in Lebanon and Grenada.
US President Donald Trump has said there will be a peaceful transition: "Even though I totally disagree with the outcome of the election, and the facts bear me out, nevertheless there will be an orderly transition on January 20th. I have always said we would continue our fight to ensure that only legal votes were counted. While this represents the end of the greatest first term in presidential history, it’s only the beginning of our fight to Make America Great Again!”
Under heavy security following the storming of Trump supporters to the Capitol, the US Congress on Wednesday certified the victory of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in the November 3 election. It quickly became clear that objections from pro-Trump Republican lawmakers to Biden's victory in battleground states would be rejected overwhelmingly, including by most Republicans. "To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today - you did not win," Vice President Mike Pence, who presided over the session, said as it resumed. "Let's get back to work," he said, drawing applause.
Japanese shares ended higher on Thursday, with the Nikkei touching a 30-year peak, powered by financials as U.S. bond yields climbed on hopes of larger stimulus following Democrat victories in two Senate runoffs in Georgia. The Nikkei average closed up 1.60% at 27,490.13, hitting its highest level since August 1990 at one point during the session and snapping a four-day losing streak. The broader Topix added 1.68% to 1,826.30, climbing above a peak hit late last year to reach its highest level since October 2018.
American Airlines and Delta Air Lines said on Wednesday they are working with law enforcement and airport agencies in the Washington area to ensure the safety of travelers and workers after supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol. American has also increased staffing at Washington-area airports "as a precautionary measure" and will not be serving alcohol on flights to and from the area, a spokesman said. The comment followed reports of unruly passengers on flights into the D.C. area on Tuesday ahead of the disruption at the Capitol, raising concern about their departure from the region.
Global Times, a media organisation affiliated to China’s ruling party, drew a parallel Thursday between the siege of Capitol Hill and the time protesters stormed the Hong Kong legislature building in 2019. It recalled how US Speaker Nancy Pelosi had referred to the Hong Kong protests as “a beautiful sight to behold”, and said “it remains yet to be seen whether she will say the same about the recent developments in Capitol Hill”.
Pro-democracy protesters had smashed their way into the legislature building on July 1, 2019 in a demonstration against proposed amendments to Hong Kong laws. Read More