The US House and Senate were forced into emergency recess on Wednesday after protesters supportive of outgoing President Donald Trump breached security cordons and entered the Capitol building after clashing with police.
“Without objection, the chair declares the House in recess,” congressman Jim McGovern said, banging down the gavel as loud shouts and disturbances could be heard in the public galleries in the chamber.
Officials at the US Capitol declared a lockdown, and lawmakers said on Twitter that they were sheltering in place in their offices, as protesters – some of them holding Trump flags – were seen walking through the building.
Police have sent orders for Congressional staff to leave the Cannon building and other large offices after Mr Trump called on his followers to protest the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory inside the building.
“Just evacuated my office in Cannon due to a nearby threat. Now we’re seeing protesters assaulting Capitol Police,” said Representative Nancy Mace in a tweet.
“This is wrong. This is not who we are. I’m heartbroken for our nation today,” she wrote.
Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser has ordered a citywide curfew to remain in place until 6:00 am Thursday.
Some US politicians have described the scenes as a “coup”.
“A mob storming the US Capitol to overturn an election. A coup in progress,” said Representative Val Demings in a tweet.
“This is anarchy. This is an attempted coup. And it’s happening in America because of lawless lawmakers,” added another congressman, Seth Moulton.
“The president is inciting domestic terrorism,” said Representative Mark Pocan.
Mr Trump, rambling with the occasional aside lauding his four-year tenure, had earlier used a rally to warn “weak” Republicans not to certify Biden’s victory and put direct pressure on Vice President Mike Pence, who will preside over the session.
“We will never give up. We will never concede,” Mr Trump told the cheering crowd, few wearing masks despite a spike in COVID-19 cases.
Thousands rally in support of Donald Trump near the White House on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2021
AP
“I hope Mike has the courage to do what he has to do,” Mr Trump said, describing the US election as less honest than those of “Third World countries.”
But as Mr Trump was still speaking and Congress opened the session to certify Mr Biden’s election win, Mr Pence – dutifully loyal to Mr Trump over four years and quiet since the election – said he would not intervene.
Mr Trump blasted Mr Pence in a Twitter post.
“Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution,” Mr Trump tweeted. “USA demands the truth!”
A supporter of Donald Trump’s gestures towards the media at the rally
EPA POOL
With political tensions running at fever pitch, there was a heavy police presence in downtown Washington and many business owners, fearing clashes, had boarded up doors and windows.
Mr Biden won more than seven million votes more than Mr Trump in the 3 November election and leads him 306-232 in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines elections.
Mr Trump has repeatedly alleged without evidence that there was vote-rigging but his team has not been able to prove a single case in court.
New mandate for Democrats
The session of Congress comes one day after voters went to the polls in Georgia and appear to have handed a pair of stunning victories to the Democratic Senate candidates over Republican incumbents.
A Democratic sweep would result in a 50-50 split in the Senate with Democrats holding the tie-breaking vote in Vice President Kamala Harris.
Mr Biden is due to be sworn in on 20 January and control of the Senate would give his Democrats the levers of power in the executive branch and both chambers of Congress and allow him to push through his legislative agenda.
“After the past four years, after the election, and after today’s election certification proceedings on the Hill, it’s time to turn the page,” Mr Biden said in a statement.
“The American people demand action and they want unity. I am more optimistic than I ever have been that we can deliver both,” he said.
Democrat Chuck Schumer, who is poised to take over from Mitch McConnell as majority leader, said his first priority will be to pass $2,000 USD COVID relief checks for most Americans.
Democrats and Mr Trump has supported the amount but Mr McConnell killed the proposal in the Senate, saying $600 USD payouts approved last month were sufficient.
Georgia has been reliably Republican but Mr Biden also won the state, by about 12,000 votes, and his win there is one of the victories that Mr Trump has been contesting.
Mr Trump’s unprecedented efforts to overturn the result have included making a call to Georgia’s secretary of state in which he said he wants to “find 11,780 votes” – one more than Mr Biden’s margin of victory.
Major upset in Georgia
In Georgia, Democratic candidate Raphael Warnock, the pastor at the Atlanta church where Martin Luther King once preached, was projected to defeat Republican Kelly Loeffler, a 50-year-old businesswoman appointed to the Senate in December 2019.
Mr Warnock, 51, who would be just the third African-American to win a Senate seat from the South, was ahead by 53,430 votes out of nearly 4.4 million cast, or more than one per cent.
Ms Loeffler however refused to concede. “We’re going to make sure every vote is counted,” she told supporters.
In the other Georgia race, Democrat Jon Ossoff, 33, claimed victory on Wednesday over Republican David Perdue.
“Georgia, thank so much for the confidence you have placed in me,” Mr Ossoff said. “I will look forward to serving you.”
Mr Perdue, 71, who was elected to the Senate in 2014, has also refused to concede.
