McConnell lambastes 'failed insurrection' as Congress returns to affirm Biden's victory
WASHINGTON — Congress returned to work Wednesday night to continue counting the electoral votes and affirming President-elect Joe Biden's victory after violent supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, broke windows and threatened the safety of those inside.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., brought the chamber back into session after it was deemed safe and lambasted "the unhinged crowd we saw today," calling what took place a "failed insurrection."
"They tried to disrupt our democracy. They failed," he said. "We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs or threats. We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation. ... We will discharge our duty under the Constitution and for our nation. And we're going to do it tonight."
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said the day would be "a stain on our country, not so easily washed away," and he called Trump "undoubtedly our worst" president in history.
It was an unforgettable day in Washington as lawmakers were forced to pause the official count of the Electoral College votes and flee when Trump's followers stormed the building. At least one person was shot inside the Capitol and died later, the National Guard was activated and the mayor ordered a 12-hour curfew in the city that began at 6 p.m. ET.
The House and Senate picked up where they left off hours earlier — debating a Republican objection to the results in Arizona. But the chaos of the day appeared to leave a searing impression among lawmakers, including some Republicans who dropped their objections to counting Biden electors as a result, even as others gave no indication they would back down.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who had previously said he planned to object to counting Biden electors unless a commission was formed to audit the results, conceded Wednesday evening that his effort would fail. Lankford had been in the middle of his speech supporting the objection against counting Arizona’s electoral college vote when the Capitol was breached and lawmakers had to be whisked to safety.
"Obviously the commission that we've asked for is not going to happen at this point, and I understand that," he said. "And we're headed towards tonight — towards the certification of Joe Biden, who will be the president of the United States."
Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., an appointed senator who lost her election runoff Tuesday night, said that she had intended to object to Biden electors but that "the events that have transpired today have forced me to reconsider" and that she "cannot in good conscience" follow through.
Loeffler nonetheless doubled down on the false claims that there were "last-minute changes" and "serious irregularities" in the election, seemingly justifying her plans to object to the process. Her colleagues applauded after she finished her remarks.
What is typically a half-hour procedural event turned into an ugly daylong spectacle, the culmination of a Trump-led effort, supported by over 100 members of Congress, to contest Biden's victory.
Electoral College votes began being officially counted Wednesday at 1 p.m. ET in a joint session of Congress, where Republican allies of Trump began to object to the votes' being counted from numerous states that Biden won despite pushback from McConnell and Vice President Mike Pence.
The first objection, to Arizona's vote, took place minutes into the proceeding, as Trump-supporting protesters, egged on by the president, descended on the Capitol. After the protesters breached the Capitol steps and began to clash with police, parts of the building were placed on lockdown, the congressional tally was paused and Pence was taken to a secure location.
The chaos began as the House and the Senate separately debated the objection.
Demonstrators could be seen from the third floor walking past barricades up to the Capitol. Capitol Police officers began running into the hallways and shouting at staff and reporters to get away from the windows, and they told staff members that rioters had breached the building and that they should take cover.
Shouting could be heard several floors down. Senate staff members then began locking the doors to the Senate chamber. A recording then began playing announcing that there was a security threat inside the building and that people should take shelter. Senators were taken to a secure location.
Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., described the chaos in an interview on NBC. "The scene that we saw on Capitol Hill, the banging, the yelling, the screaming, the demands to enter the chamber of the United States Congress — those are the sorts of things that happen in third-world nations," she said.
Capitol Police advised members to take gas masks "because we know there were some chemical irritants deployed in various parts of the Capitol," Spanberger said. "We made a couple efforts at trying to evacuate. But at one point that became difficult, because there were people banging on the doors of the floor of the House of Representatives, and so at that point in time there was an effort to, of course, lock all the doors and barricade the doors. It took multiple efforts to make our way safely."
Before the vote count Wednesday, Trump urged thousands of his supporters at a rally near the White House to head to the Capitol to make sure their "voices are heard."
"What happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the president of the United States," Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, said in a statement. "Those who choose to continue to support his dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate, democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy."
Another Republican senator, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, also directly blamed Trump. "Today, the United States Capitol — the world's greatest symbol of self-government — was ransacked while the leader of the free world cowered behind his keyboard — tweeting against his vice president for fulfilling the duties of his oath to the Constitution," Sasse said.
"Lies have consequences. This violence was the inevitable and ugly outcome of the president's addiction to constantly stoking division," Sasse said.
Meanwhile, Democrats began discussing a stronger reaction.
Reps. David Cicilline, D-R.I., and Ted Lieu, D-Calif., circulated a letter among colleagues urging Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare Trump unfit for office, which could lead to his early removal.
"It's one of the remedies to prevent him from holding office," Cicilline said by phone, calling the rioters "terrorists." If that fails, Cicilline said, Congress should move to impeach Trump and ban him from seeking the presidency again.
In all, over a dozen Republican senators and 100 House members had been expected to object to results from up to six states, even though those votes have been certified by the states and Trump's legal challenges have been dismissed by numerous courts.
Electors already cast their votes on Dec. 14, and Biden, who got 7 million more votes than Trump, won 306 electoral votes to 232 for Trump.
Trump, who has falsely claimed that he won the election, spoke at the pro-Trump rally for over an hour before the violence broke out. He repeatedly urged Pence, who had been presiding over the vote count, to throw out states' votes or somehow send them back to the states, which he does not have the power to do.
"Mike Pence has to come through for us," he said. "If he doesn't that will be a sad day for our country."
In a statement sent as Trump was still speaking, Pence indicated that he would not join Trump's effort. "It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not," the statement said.
In response, Trump tweeted that "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution."
The objections had been expected to fail because majorities of both chambers must vote to sustain an objection. If one chamber votes to toss out a state's votes and the other does not, the objection is dismissed. The Democrats have a majority in the House and can block any objection, and while Republicans have a slim majority in the Senate, dozens of Republican senators have already said they would not back their colleagues' effort.
Regardless, each objection to a state's vote will result in the vote count's being halted and then two hours of debate in each chamber before members vote. That means the vote count, which goes in alphabetical order, could go on into the morning.
Trump said at his rally that he would not stop fighting the election results.
"We will never give up. We will never concede. You don't concede when there is theft involved. Your country has had enough. We will not take it anymore," he said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., reiterated to reporters during the lockdown his belief that Trump "is the most dangerous president in the history of the United States."
"He will be gone in two weeks," Sanders added.
