Washington, United States: Four people died on the US Capitol grounds Wednesday and 52 people have been arrested, after supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump swarmed inside the building as the lawmakers were counting Electoral College votes to certify President-elect Joe Biden and Vice-President elect Kamala Harris’ election victory.
In a late-night news conference, Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert J Contee said that 47 of the 52 arrests to date were related to violations of Mayor Muriel Bowser’s 6 pm curfew, with 26 of those involving people arrested on US Capitol grounds. Several others were arrested on charges related to carrying unlicensed or prohibited firearms.
Protesters supporting Donald Trump swarmed the US Capitol, putting it on lockdown, as Vice President Mike Pence rebuffed the president’s demand to overturn his loss to Democrat Joe Biden and the Senate’s Republican leader denounced a bid in Congress to undo the election outcome.
Trump supporters overturned barricades and clashed with police on the US Capitol grounds and streamed inside the building. The demonstrations flared as lawmakers met inside to formally certify Biden’s victory over Trump in the November 3 election. Law enforcement authorities struggled to maintain order.
The Senate and the House of Representatives, which were weighing objections to Biden’s victory brought by a band of pro-Trump Republican lawmakers, abruptly and unexpectedly recessed.
Pence, a loyal lieutenant during the four years of Trump’s tumultuous presidency, presided over the opening of the joint session of Congress to formally certify Biden’s November 3 victory over Trump. A band of Republican lawmakers quickly challenged the results, first from the election battleground state of Arizona won by Biden.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell objected to the effort, saying, “If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral.” McConnell helped give Trump some of the biggest accomplishments of his presidency, including deep tax cuts and confirmation of conservative judicial nominees.
Biden won the election by 306-232 in the state-by-state Electoral College and by more than 7 million ballots in the national popular vote, but Trump continues to falsely claim there was widespread fraud and that he was the victor. (agency)
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